Wrapping up the weekend.

We had a lovely long weekend filled with triumphs at the swimming pool, the beautiful movie Hugo and birthday parties. Lots of birthday parties. The kids had four invitations in their hot little hands but a mom has to draw the line somewhere, so we only went to three of them. We have twice been the only people to show up at a birthday party. The heartbreak I imagine those kids would have felt if no one at all showed up compels us to try to make it to every party. But, four! In four days! Just no.

Mom had a lot of fun wrapping those three gifts.

When I saw these adorable glittered clothespin Christmas gift toppers from Creature Comforts, I knew I had to recreate them for little girl birthday gifts.





I wish Hello Kitty didn't have a metal hook protruding from her head, but I still love how these came out.



And, funny...I didn't remember the clothespins holding gift tags in the DIY. Totally thought I came up with that myself!

Then, again inspired by Creature Comforts, I set out to master Ez's pom pom method. This is so so much easier than the way I've always made pom poms that I want to make a million of them! What I love the most about this, is that Cheeseball decided that this wrap was pretty, but not quite sparkly enough. So, while I was in the shower, she broke out the glitter glue and made the pom poms perfect.



We were rushing out the door, so all I have is an instagram photo. But, I love the collaboration!

I always find boys to be a little harder to get creative with. Probably because I don't get to just glitter bomb everything. But, the little boy whose party we attended today is the sweetest, old soul of a child. So, I dressed up his gift with a windsor knot and tie. With footballs. Because, he's still 10.

Love is in the air. Or, on the wall.

So, let's just skip over the usual intermittent blogger dance and dispense with all the "wow, has it really been this long?"'s and "oh look, my blog still here"'s and get right to it.

When I first saw this I Love You Garland by Lovely Indeed (via Creature Comforts) last year, I knew I had to recreate it in sparkly pink for Cheeseball. And, it only took me a year!





I used a finer glitter (Although looking at the original DIY again, I now NEED chunky glitter. Just to have.)



And, I attached the letters to baker's twine with tabs at the top of each letter instead of mid letter. I printed the letters on cardstock, and if I were to do it again, I would glue the letters to a thicker cardboard first before cutting out and glitter bombing. But, I love it and I'm so glad I finally got around to it!

While we are definitely a "fair doesn't mean equal" household, I wanted to put some love up on El Niño's wall too. He is less partial to all things pink and sparkly than his sister. And he has just recently started to move out of the "I am Child and I am Awesome" phase of childhood and begun to discover the self doubt and concern about peer opinion that plagues us all through most of our school age years. So, I wanted to give him a daily reminder that I am still firmly in the "You are Child and You are Awesome" phase of motherhood.





If you would like to print the same in green for yourself, feel free to click through to flickr - just don't forget to click "view all sizes" and grab the largest. I coordinated the color with the JuneCraft print that I do love so. But, I also put together a file with the print in jpegs in several different colors as well as the original photoshop file so you can customize as you like! Download the file here.

I used Market Deco for both projects. Free for personal use!

Working on these two projects over the past two days has been SO fun. I've been feeling Christmas morning levels of anticipation and giddiness. And now, I can't WAIT for the kids to get home from school and see their little surprises.

My Valentine

Cheeseball and I put together valentines cards for her classmates yesterday. I don't think most of the kids at her German kindergarten will understand what Valentine's Day is, but nor do I suppose most of them will be too concerned about it once they realize candy is involved.

El Niño spotted boxed cards about a month ago and wanted those. While I'd prefer we put together handmade cards, being most likely unable to execute lenticular robots myself I didn't push the issue. Cheeseball, on the other hand, is a ♥ handmade kinda girl. We used designs from this lovely printable class valentines set, put out by the fantastic party resource blog, One Charming Party. I pulled out the two left-most designs and shrunk them down then addressed each to "Mein Freund" while Cheeseball signed them all with a flourish.

To help her differentiate between the teachers' cards and the kids' while she was passing them out, we used these totally modern and pretty valentines tags from Draw It Modern for her teachers' treats.

And, next year - it's always next year! - I really want to make this beautiful garland to hang up in the house. I found the DIY I Love You Garland tutorial on Lovely Indeed via Creature Comforts.

Maybe I'll make it this year in pink to hang in Cheeseball's room year-round...

Urlaub in Berlin, Tag Zwei

^Holiday in Berlin, Day Two

Oops, I took too long to post and now I'm losing steam. Day Two in Berlin was what we were calling Super Fun Kid Day. I'm not sure why, but giving things Engrish style labels makes them even more awesome.

We started out at the Berlin Zoo, where it was so pretty, fun for the kids, and ohhhh so very cold.







Then, we headed into the Aquarium where it was much warmer. El Niño is really into that type of thing. Cheeseball is more into surprise relaxation spots.



Hours and hours and hours later Mom hijacked Super Fun Kid Day to drag the kids to the KaDeWe department store. It claims to be the biggest department store on the European continent and I think that's probably about right. It was ridiculously huge. I actually just wanted to pop into the Idee craft store, housed in the department store. But, that crafty El Niño hijacked my hijack and spotted the Lego Berlin store on the way.


Pretty stoked.

After that, we headed to the flea market where my pictures came to a crashing halt, because you know...propietors, goods...I have a thing. But, I did pick up some vintage buttons and a sweet pin to embellish some pieces for the store.

Day Three I can roll up in one sentence: swim meet. Actually, that's not even a sentence. We spent the entire day at the pool. I was hoping we would make it out of there in time to hop over to (what I heard was) an even cooler flea market. But, the meet ran long and that was that. Next time!

We had a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to another trip to Berlin sometime. For now, though, we're thinking about Spring Break and what we want to see then!

Sometimes the universe is in perfect alignment.

We own one soup thermos, which is a problem when both kids want to take leftovers for lunch. Or when I want to make oatmeal in a thermos for El Niño for breakfast after swim practice and send soup for lunch. So, I've been hunting for another.

Apparently, Germans don't do thermoses for lunch, because they are nowhere to be found here. And, the military post store and their stupid automated ordering system have been thwarting me for the last six months. I have looked every time I've been in the store since Back to School shopping last summer and they are always sold out. The employees keep assuring me that they have received more, but they fly right out the door.

So, I was thrilled when we stopped in yesterday and they had them in stock! I immediately threw one in the basket and did a little happy dance. Then, the fire alarm went off, the store was evacuated and we were hustled out the door. Really!? I almost could not believe it.

But, then! Then! About an hour later, I got an email from my Dad that he had spotted some thermoses he thought the kids would like and was on his way to the post office to send them to us. I don't remember if I had filled him in on my thermos woes or if it was just a completely happy coincidence. But, I just love when things work out that way. And I think it's a sign that 2011 is going to be a great year.

source

What are you expecting for the new year?  Good things, I hope.

Cheeseball's New Armoire

Hoorah! Hooray! Today is a day to celebrate! I've finally finished a project that has been rolling around in my brain for at least 6 months. And it feels soooo good.

Cheeseball had a dresser that was very cute when we first got it, years ago, but had fallen into a pretty sad state of disrepair. I'm sure it could have been fixed, but with her Ikea wardrobe necessitated by the lack of built in closets in German houses, she really didn't need dresser drawers anymore. So, I wanted to transform the old dresser into an armoire for doll and barbie clothes. And with a little fabric and about a gallon of mod podge, that's exactly what I did!


The dresser in all it's previous abused-by-a-four-year-old glory.

First, I removed all but the bottom drawer.



Then, I took out the hardware and removed the top of the dresser.



And this is where my nice, handy step by step pictures come to a screeching halt. I used mod podge to apply the fabric to the inner walls and underneath the top of the dresser. I realized that the side walls were so thin, any hanging rod hardware was going to come through the other side. So, when I had the wood for the base of the armoire (over the bottom dresser) cut, I drew some hearts on to the scrap wood and they cut those out for me as well.



Again using mod podge, I covered the hearts with the two coordinating fabrics I had picked from Heather Bailey's completely lovely Nicey Jane collection. Then, while hanging the Ikea Deka curtain rods, screwed through the side walls and right in to the wood hearts.



The last step was sewing the curtains. And voila!




Peeking in.



Unfortunately, the back of the dresser is multi piece, very thin and only connected on the extreme sides. I should have reinforced that somehow before applying the fabric, because you can see some pockets where the fabric meets nothing. I'm a little bummed about this.

We're using big clothespins right now. But, my friend Alicia was kind enough to pick up some mini clothespins for me because I can't find them here or anywhere online that will ship to an APO. When those get here, I plan to cover them in washi tape and then they'll be perfect for a teeny tiny doll armoire.

We're also using cereal bowls to corral Barbie shoes, doll shoes, Barbie purses, etc... But, maybe future renovations will effect a solution for those as well.

Cheeseball and I are both so pleased with how this came out! I'm discovering a great love for upcycling and transforming and this was the perfect candidate to make new.

Coming soon to a Sushi near you.

Just a little sneak peek of something I've been working very hard on that I hope will be done and ready to share tomorrow!

Making Allowances

El Niño and Cheeseball have been earning a regular weekly allowance for a while now. We follow the pretty common $1 per year of life formula, and it's worked out well for us. As a general rule, we'll buy whatever books and craft supplies they might want, but we don't buy toys outside of birthdays and Christmas, so they really look forward to their allowances.

Having moved to Europe, the allowance situation has gotten a little more complicated. In America, we'd just give them their dollars in cash every week. But, in Germany, they need dollars to spend on post - where the game cartridges work in their players, the instructions come in English and their favorite things (namely Legos and Barbies) can be found in abundance. But, they need euros to spend off post - where they are the majority of their time. Since they have to buy their own toys, trading off weeks in dollars and euros would make it take twice as long to save up for anything specific they want. And, Mom has a hard enough time keeping dollar and euro cash separate and organized, they don't need to have to maintain two wallets!

So, we've moved to an overly complicated Excel spreadsheet factoring current exchange rates, allowance payments and money spent to come up with a constant balance in both dollars and euros. Which is very handy! Except when you're at a store and the kids want to know how much money they have and you forgot to pull up the spreadsheet before you left.

So! I created two balance books for them. We'll copy the balances in as they are updated, and the kiddos will be responsible for keeping track of the books.



I'm not posting a printable, as it's unlikely many people will need separate dollar and euro columns in balance books for their own kids! But, a simple table with dates and balances are all you need if you want to create a similar system for you and yours. Design a cardstock or heavy paper cover, fold it all in half and staple at the center!

Mini Memory Games

When I saw this adorable tutorial by dandee, I knew I had to make some mini memory games up for the kiddos.

Since I don't have access to the normal craft stores here in Germany and couldn't get my hands on the little tins she used, I sewed up some very simple drawstring bags to hold the games.



I started with vintage animal clipart from the Graphics Fairy, which I made into colorful silhouettes in Photoshop.



And used a retro graphic paper for the backs.



Then, I remembered some adorable doodles done by Joel over at Made By Joel for a matching game. (Are you reading Made By Joel? You should be, the toys he makes for his kids are wonderful!)



And used a black and white polka dot for the backs.



The kids are having a blast with their new games! And, they're the perfect size to toss in your purse and have at the ready when waiting for service at a restaurant or whenever some waiting time pops up!

If you'd like to make your own, you can hop over to dandee for the tutorial, and download the pictures I used here.

Rapid fire gift giving.

When we dropped Cheeseball off at kindergarten this morning, I learned that although school isn't over for the year until mid-August, today is the day they do gifts to the children and the children bring gifts for the teachers. Wait, what!?!?! This is the last week of German grade school for the year, so families start going on vacation next week, taking their kindergarteners with them.

Well, this left me with nothing to do but speedwalk/sprint home and start brainstorming. I was going to consult a German friend to see what would be the typical kinder-to-lehrer (teacher) end of year gift. But, then I thought wait...when I have friends from exotic places, I don't want them to bring me whatever I'm used to! I want to check out whatever they're used to. So, I decided to bake something American. Apple pie would be a little tough to wrap up and transport and also I suck at it. What's more American (though, less American than apple pie) than chocolate chip cookies!?

Unfortunately, the move and corresponding gutting of the kitchen for the movers still has us a little low on staples. The baking soda, the brown sugar, the flour, really everything is different here and the Internet told me you can't mix American baking recipes and German ingredients. So, I had to drive to post and by then, it was time to bite the bullet and buy ready made cookie dough.

But, the packaging could be homemade! I downloaded some box templates and used an adorable wrapping paper template by Kellie Medivitz that I'd saved previously.

Download the box templates here.

Download the tags and wrap here.

I printed the wrapping paper print on one side of cardstock and the box template on the other.



Then, used craft glue (even though craft glue and mod podge both claim to be non-toxic, the craft glue seemed even nonner-non-toxic to me) to line the inside of the box with wax paper.



I cut the wax paper off the flaps and scored the dotted lines. Then, put the box together! I recommend gluing flap by flap as you go - both so that the glue stays fresh and because until you're putting it together, it's tough to figure out which flaps you're going to want to glue on the inside and which on the outside.

I had cut the pre-made cookie dough squares in half to make smaller cookies. I stacked the cooled cookies inside the boxes.



Then, closed them up, tied a pretty ribbon and attached a coordinating gift tag.



All in all, I thought it was a pretty cute, very last minute and with limited supplies kind of gift!

And, the teachers asked "sind diese amerikanischen cookies!?" and they seemed pretty excited about it. So, I think bringing an American gift from their American kinder was the way to go.

Although I ended up having to use pre-made cookie dough, I'm posting my totally awesome chocolate chip cookie recipe anyway. I use a half a bag of chocolate chips in these, and the girl who originally gave the recipe to me uses a bag and a half, so go with your own chocolate lover level.

2 sticks butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (or better yet, scrape the inside of one vanilla bean)
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Cream together butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.

Combine dry ingredients in separate bowl. Slowly add to egg/sugar mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Enjoy.

Bento Sandos.

I haven't blogged anything bento in a while. I haven't really made any bento in a while, come to think of it. El Niño just isn't in to it. And Cheeseball has been making her way through the wilds of German kindergarten, and I didn't really want to do anything that would make her stand out more than being the sole only just-the-one American. But, I've been easing my way into slightly more bento-ish lunches for her. And one thing she and I both adore is the Sando de Panda sandwich cutter. Sando is how the Japanese say sandwich. We've talked about how we incorporate foreign words into English. The Japanese take foreign words and um...Japan-ify them.

The set from CasaBento includes two shape imprinters, a crust cutter, a sandwich-edge-squisher (yes, the technical term) and a little scoop. Soft innards like PB&J, egg salad, etc.. work best. Horribly unhealthy Wonder Bread type breads work best, but Wonder Bread is too small. Here in Germany, they sell what they call "American Sandwich Bread" and it's pretty much Wonder Bread but bigger. I assume they must sell something similar in Japan, which is why it fits the cutter. It also helps to microwave the bread for about 15 seconds, then it accepts and holds the imprint much better and doesn't tear in the center when you squish down the edges.

You can make one big whole squished-edge sando or fold the bread in half and angle the cutter to make half squished-edge sandos. (I can feel my intelligence radiating out through this post. Can you feel it?)


Not microwaved long enough. Still cute.


Perfecto.

Making Space for El Nino

El Niño's room has always been the epitome of the function over form problem that permeates the entirety of Chez Sushi. The public rooms have to have some sense of decor or I feel like a total failure. A little girl's room is a little easier to decorate, and Cheeseball really cares about that kind of thing. So, her room has some personality. But, poor El Niño has been toiling away on his Lego cities and amassing his personal armory in a room completely devoid of style.

I had just resolved to do something about that when I happened upon this adorable digital print of an original illustration by june craft on Poppytalk. Poppytalk has repurposed their handmade market as an oil spill response market for the month of July and june craft is donating a portion of proceeds to the cause, making this an even more satisfying (yet totally inexpensive!) purchase.

Isn't that just awesome? I love the color, I love the motion, I love the retro styling...really, I just love it. I bought it on the spot and decided to build the rest of the room's decor around it.



He already has this bunk bed from Ikea, but he desperately needs a closet. German houses don't come with built in closets, so thank golf for Ikea. I like the idea of closed storage in these trunks for things like giant Nerf guns that don't really add to the room, but certainly mean something to El Niño. He needs to upgrade from his current (miniature) pencil shaped coat rack, in a bad way. In fact the only thing in this redesign that I probably won't purchase is the rug. Because it's crazy expensive. But, what I wasn't able to find online, I'm sure I can get my hands on in real life with a little bit of legwork and patience.

1. blanket from Ikea
2. bedding from Ikea
3. bunk bed from Ikea
4. coat rack from cb2
5. Pax closet from Ikea
6. ridiculously expensive rug that sadly contains all the perfect colors
7. metal storage trunks from cb2
8. bookshelf from Ikea
9. wall file for very important Lego magazines from cb2
10. lamp from cb2
11. vise grip bookends from cb2

And now that I've gone back through it all, I see that despite a very long and exhaustive Internet search and the saving of many, many links I managed to find everything at two stores. Well, that was efficient. The good news is that we have an Ikea here and I really am going to turn in those Marriott reward points for a Crate and Barrel gift card.

Cheeseball Parade

Over the weekend, we got a lovely taste of small town, German style. One of the kindergartens (German kindergarten is akin to American preschool, for kids ages 3 to 6) in town was celebrating their 100th anniversary. So, the town shut down all the streets at the center of town and children from every kindergarten in town got together to march in a parade.

Look how many people came! And this is just part of the route. I was pretty amazed.




Each class in each kindergarten represented a different book, some of which are recognizable to Americans...



The Very Hungry Caterpillar


Where The Wild Things Are


Pippi Longstocking

...and some of which were not, but were equally adorable.




Cheeseball's class walked out of the pages of a book called Swimmy. I've never heard of it, but feel like I might have to buy it now!