Sidelight Solution–Version 1

I wanted to cover the sidelights next to our front door with something other than gathered floor-to-ceiling sheers. If it was somehow blue (to coordinate with the blue door), even better.

Long story short, inspired in part by the amazing “stain glass window” on FilthWizardry, I decided to cover them with tissue paper. And on the same day I decided this, I discovered blue tissue paper in a box left by the previous owners. I love happy surprises like that!

It was SO easy – just watered-down school glue, painted onto the glass with a foam brush, then the randomly-cut tissue paper scraps placed on top, and painted over if the paper still seemed dry. Took part of an afternoon.

And I don’t think it’ll be hard to get off again – I’ll just have to spritz it with water and it’ll come right up. In fact, it did come loose at the bottom where there was condensation during the winter.

I’m already thinking about Version 2.

For one thing, I didn’t realize there were two different blues in stack of tissue paper; other people maybe don’t notice, but I see it every time I pass by. (Photos below show the sidelight I did first, then the sidelight I did next.) Do you see it too?

And for another, the triangles are too “fractured” for me right now. I’d like something smoother, calmer. I’m thinking nice thin horizontal stripes…

I just need to find some more blue tissue paper.

More Birthday Cakes…

…for Ruthy and for Ken.

Ruthy, a young woman from Germany, is living with us while she interns at the girls’ school this semester. She’s fitting right in with the family and it’s a joy to have her here in our home.

For her birthday last week, I considered making her a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, because that’s what she always has at home. But I knew there was no way mine would taste anything like her moms, even if I could find all the necessary ingredient here. Besides, she’s in America, so needs an American birthday cake! : )

Ruthy is a HUGE soccer fan, specifically of her local team, Borussia Mönchengladbach. So I knew she’d love a soccer cake just like the one I made for goalkeeper Rachael.  And I knew the colors would have to be Borussia’s colors: black, white, and green.

I wanted to use Borussia’s distinctive “diamond B” logo somehow, so it became part of the word “Birthday.” Ruthy LOVED that part – asked that it be the LAST part to be eaten.

Across the front side, I wrote a phrase in German to remind her how we feel about her. “Volltreffer” is what the game announcers yell when a soccer player scores a perfect goal, right on target. While a literal English translation of the phrase – “You are a bull’s eye” – sounds a little funny, in German it is a sweet (sport-related) way to say “You’re great!”

And just like on Rachael’s cake, I hid the birthday girl’s new age in the soccer ball patches.

That’s a lot of candles. I hope Ruthy enjoys her 24th year, part of which will be spent with us!

And then just one week later, it’s was Ken’s birthday again. No elaborate pot of gold rainbow cake this year. Just a simple yellow cake with chocolate frosting (his favorites), adorned with some space-themed Lego (to fit with his current favorite past time of playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii with the girls).

Man, how I love that guy!

“Continue Reading” Links – Yay or Nay?

What do you prefer? Hugely long posts showing up in all their fullness on my blog home page and/or your blog reader? Or just the beginning bit followed by a “Continue reading” link?

See, I just discovered that what was once a huge undertaking on Blogger is now (as of 2+ years ago, actually!) as easy as clicking the “Insert Jump Break” button. That means, on my blog home page, I can hide the fact that I’m long-winded and picture-happy by inserting a simple “Continue Reading” link after a paragraph or two.

So I did that on a few recent posts. And then I also changed my feed settings, from “full” to “until jump break.”

But I’m not the one affected by this – you are. And I know what I prefer, but I’m curious to hear your thoughts and reactions. (Scroll down to the two Heart Art Party posts to see examples.)

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By the way, I found this info on how to create post summaries on Blogger with “Read More” at Blogger Plugins, written by a guy named Aneesh who seems hugely knowledgeable and helpful, judging by all his replies to people’s comments on various (fantastic) posts of his.

Sophie’s Heart Art Party :: Personalized Painted Frames

Clearly, at this “Heart Art Party,” we had to do some art. And it should include hearts. This was project number one – painted frames, personalized with each girl’s name.

It came from a marriage of Sophie’s idea to paint picture frames and my idea to paint over contact paper letters, like Amanda did with her children at ImpressYourKids. (Part of her post includes a video tutorial on how to cut out letters.) I love the pinks and greens on the one her daughter did!

Sophie’s Heart Art Party :: The Cake

This cake was all set to be pink and white… and forgettable. But thanks to my husband’s inattention to detail, Sophie got a heart-shaped artist’s palette cake for her “Heart Art Party” instead. So much more fitting, and fun. (Fuller story of how it came about is at the end.)