giggleface studios

What...There Are Alternatives to Jumping Parties?

I just had to show you how fabulous this painting is that my oldest (11) daughter painted! Last week she was invited to a birthday party at place called Canvas and Cocktails here in the Denver area. The class has an instructor that walks them step by step through the painting. All the materials are supplied and the end result is a great painting made by you...What a cool and fantastic idea! This sure beats the Pump-It-Up-Jumpin-Broken Bones-Inflatable-Zone Parties, and the Chucky Cheese-Scary Mouse-Coin-eating-Greasy Pizza-Parties doesn't it?

My daughter is a lover of all art mediums, but really enjoys painting. I tell you, I was blown away when she showed me her painting! The neatest thing is that each of the girls made the same painting...but because they got to choose their own colors, each painting turned out different and cool! You can see their pictures here (that would be my daughter hiding behind her painting...I don't know where she gets that from...*ahem*).

We are definitely going to be doing this as a family here in the near future. The cost is so reasonable and they have so many different paintings to choose from. The hardest part won't be painting a picture but which one to choose! 

Through Yonder Stained Glass Windows

I thought I would do a little Spring decorating in the Giggleface Dollhouse. A few months ago my sister gave me a box full of dollhouse bits-and-pieces. In the box were these treasures...wallpapers and stained glass windows to color! Both of these are Dover Publications: Ready-to-Use Dollhouse Stained Glass Windows for Hand Coloring and Ready-to-Use Dollhouse Wallpaper.

Here are the six wonderful patterns of wallpaper:

Aren't they fabulous, and so 1979?

I'm not sure I am going to use them quite yet in the dollhouse though. The instructions say to use real wallpaper paste to hang them, and that seems really messy and really permanent...So, that got me to thinking more along the lines of double-sided sticky tape! You know how it is when decorating, sometimes you feel 'This' way...and the next you feel 'That' way, ripping, repainting, gluing and hammering all over again! These books were published in 1979, waaay before scrapbooking was HUGE, so I think I will take a look at the craft store and see what I can find in the way of scrapbook papers...you know how crazy that section is!

But, for now I know that I DO want to add a pretty stained glass window to the attic of the dollhouse. These are just a few examples...there are 145 windows to color!

Unfortunately, there are only two out of the whole book that are round and fit the attic window. This is the one I chose to color!

The book recommends that you color both sides to get the brightest colors possible. I think it turned out pretty cool! Since my girls still play with the dollhouse (and won't give it up without a fight) I needed to make the stained glass a little sturdier to withstand 'playing', so I used some clear packing tape and covered both the front and the back side. This made it nice and 'safe' and not so fragile! I could just see my son taking a light saber and stabbing it through the paper window! Oh...the tears that would follow!

The dollhouse is in serious need of some new furniture, so I did some shopping and found this sweet Drawing Room set, Rosebud Bathroom, and who can resist this Vegetable Garden?  *Sigh* Anyways, I have a few other things I want to make for my dollhouse which include but are not limited to a bed quilt, rag rugs, and curtains galore!

Coconut Macaroons Again?!

That's right...It's that time of year when Hershey's puts out there ohhh, so tasty Coconut Creme Kisses! I made their recipe for Coconut Creme Macaroons last year and fell in love with them (and gave myself a big stomach-ache). This year I grabbed two bags of Kisses so that I could make one batch now and save one for later...turns out I ended up just doubling the batches and made both bags yesterday! I had a great time baking and spending some one-on-one time with my daughter. I thought it would be fun to add a little Springy-ness to our cookies by tinting the coconut Teal. Two drops blue one drop green...stir and you have teal...well kind of! The kids loved it anyways.

Go to the store today and get yourself a bag. I swear, even if your not a fan of coconut you will like these...it's the only way I can get my kids to Try let alone Eat coconut!

Coconut Creme Macaroons

1/3 Cup Butter, Softened                        1 1/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
3 oz. Cream Cheese, Softened                 2 Tsp. Baking Powder
3/4 Cups Sugar                                       1/4 Tsp. Salt
1 Egg Yolk                                               48 Hershey's Coconut Creme Kisses
2 Tsp. Almond Extract                             5 Cups Sweetened Coconut Flakes,
2 Tsp. Orange Juice                                   Divided

Directions: Beat butter, cream cheese, and sugar in a bowl until well blended. Add egg yolk, almond extract and orange juice; beat well. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in 3 cups coconut. Cover, refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to handle.

Remove wrappers form chocolates. Heat oven to 350F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll in remaining 2 cups of coconut. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from oven; immediately press chocolate on top of each cookie. Cool 1 minute; carefully remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Yield 4 dozen cookies

Fabric, Fabric & More Fabric!

The first round of Quilt For Kids quilts are done! They have been quilted and bound and are ready to be packaged and sent out. My sister did a fabulous job quilting these, as always! I love to bind my quilts using bits and pieces of leftover fabrics from the quilts. It gives the quilt some movement and a hint of whimsy-patchwork. One of the perks of making quilts is that you get to name them...how fun is that?

I chose to name this quilt: Over the Rainbow, because I believe that this is what you would find somewhere over the rainbow...unicorns and bubblegum!

This quilt was the kit that I requested from Quilt For Kids and named it: Purrfectly Perfect! I know that some child is going to love snuggling in these quilts, because I had a hard time trying to pry these from my daughters fingers. Oh, the power of a quilt!

On a separate note, but still fabric related...