Haloloween 2013

Oops we did it again! Yupp, it was all mummies and witches and ghosts at HaLoLoween this year.

Thank you ever so much to the wonderful superwoman: Barbara Rock, who did a fantastic job, as always with her camera. Barbara, you are hired for ever and ever :))) And to everyone who came. We had so much fun and made this Halloween so memorable .. just take a look ...

ACTIVITIESPumpkin Hockey

Toilet Paper Mummies

 Kitty cat, kitty cat where is your mommy?  

Here we are ... (well those that we could get to stay for a second :)

And finally us on Halloween day  ... Flying skeletons and Rock Star Barbies 

And a photo by a Park Slope photographer Roberto Falck ... 

I will be back soon with some craft, I promise!

Lo(lo)V(i)E, Elvi

Miriam and Pam's wedding picnic

When my friend Miriam told me she was getting married to her long time girlfriend, Pam I was thrilled. My first thought was "I am so happy for you" immediately followed by thought number 2. "I hope I can decorate your wedding". And so I did :) 

Miriam and Pam didn't want anything fancy - they wanted to get together with their family and closest friends. Weddings are always meaningful, and I wanted to make their decoration also. I wanted to M&P's personalities and connection. Miriam is a writer (a very good one) and Pam loves bicycles (they love many, many other things also, but these two stood out, and so I built the design of the event on books and bikes. Here are the photos:

I always had a thing for giant flowers, but I was always worried how would they hold up. Building a steam can be an issue, when you live in a small space in Brooklyn. So, I stole hubby's umbrella, inverted it and it served as the perfect base for the flower! No fuss, no heavy wire, no cement ... 

The centerpiece had about 40 flowers. Some were from tissue paper, others from book pages and napkins. I used balloon weights to keep the arrangement from flying away. 

Giant flower a la LoLoVie .. What do you think? 

CONGRATULATIONS MIRIAM and PAM!

xox
Elvi

LoLo's Circus and Carnival - 4th birthday party

Long time no see! That only means that I've been busy working on so many projects I could not find time to actually take photos and post until NO! Tararararaaaa here are the photos of LoLo's party, which would have been washed away had it not been for my quick thinking husband, who had a genius idea to ask a nearby hotel for a space. And there we were in one room instead of our spacious courtyard but ce la vie! With many adjustments and reconstruction we were able to have fun and enjoy another LoLo milestone ...

I found this old poster on the internet and edited in the words. I used picmonkey, the only editing program I can sort of use. 

The food table ...

Home-made: 

* Paper fans on the wall are from newspaper and card stock; The circle in  the middle is a paper plate trimmed to size.

* Tablecloth. Made from 99. cent plastic table covers that you can buy in any party store. The yellow and white were cut on the fold lines to 4 equal strips, shirred by hand and taped with clear tape to the bottom (red) tablecloth. Make this ahead of time if you are thinking about one for your party. It takes a while!

* Banner. Easy! Paper plates with letters printed from word on them (I have a silhouette that I can't use :); holes punched on two sides and tied together with a string. They work very well on the wall, but making them stand upright against the tablecloth was a challenge at time ...  

*  Circus train. Made from boxes bought at Staples. The wheels are doubled black paper plates, the chimney is a toilet paper roll wrapped in yellow paper and another one wrapped in stripy paper. 

 * Photo. The picture is an enlarged black and white photograph from Staples and glued to a white foam board. 

I am very proud of the circus train, though London hated the idea of the animals and cages and I had to promise him that they will be let free once the party is over. The photo of them on the train is an actual photo from a train ride we took in Budapest past summer.  

* I made the stacked pom-poms with newspaper straps at the bottom

* I am pleased with my printables done with picmonkey.

Food: 

There was cheese, crackers, grapes, popcorn in a fruit barrel and hummus cups with celery and carrots and I baked cheese and chive biscuits (that came out yummy btw :).

I did not want to overload the kids with desserts and candy, so we had cream puffs and cookies with milk (that we forgot to serve until the last minute). There were also peanuts in bags and lollipops and mini chocolate coins at the prize table. We ordered pizza for a quick lunch and then there was the amazing cake that London and Lola's x nanny, Didi made!  I thought it was just the right amount of food for a kids party. 

We also had a photo booth. Though I did learn something .. don't make the booth adult size for a kids party! How about my jeans I am most proud of?? I bought them from a boutique in Carroll Gardens. The had my name written all over them and were on sale! Nobody wanted them for ages until I appeared ... Do not be mistaken! I wear them in the summer on a regular bases and get compliments all over the city. I've had people calling me wonder bread girl :)) I've gone back to the same little shop in hopes to buy another funky pair but they do not carry the brand any longer and I wasn't able to find them even on the internet .. :( 

By the way ... as it turns out nobody likes clowns! Many people are afraid of them, I just simply do not like them. The reason being that when I was growing up, my mom would take me to the circus all the time and when the clown came on stage I was expected to laugh and smile like all the other kids, but I never found falling off pants on a guy with a big red nose funny .. lol .. now maybe I would :))) My mom would always check if I had a smile on my face, which I never did for the clown and she'd proceed with questioning if I didn't like the show and why and so on and so on ... As a character I now think they are cute .. I mean how would anyone not like that huge rainbow afro??? 

The TATTOO station ... I bought circus themed tattoos from amazon. 

Another activity was the bean bag toss ... bottom right!

There was face painting by our talented aunt Janet. We picked five designs to make it easier for everyone. Rainbow really wasn't among the choices, but Lola insisted .. 

Activities we did: 

* Photo booth * Face painting * Tattoos * Bean bag toss * Pin drop * Coloring station * Duck pond 

And what we could nod do, because of the rain :(

* Clown race  * Hula hoop  * Hopscotch  * Bubble station  * Baby rug

Nana was in charge of the prizes! They included almost anything and everything you can buy at a party store and toothbrushes as papa is a dentist :)

I also made a circus sock monkey for the prize table .. How did she come out so cute?? 

The cake Didi made was AMAZING! It was like the Hungarian "dobos torta". Yumm!

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY LOLO!

Now, let crafting begin (again!)

LO(lo)V(i)E to all readers who stuck with me during all these quiet months!

Elvi

Strawberry hedgehog cupcake toppers

It was LoLo's birthday a few weeks ago, as you all know by now from my Strawberries and Snails birthday party photos and video. Additionally to the party, LoLo had a 10 minutes long birthday celebration also at their pre-school. It was a low-key affair. We were told to bring cupcakes, a few photos from when they were little, some of their baby clothes and their favorite music if we wanted to.
I wanted to make something special and not so unhealthy as the 4 cups of powdered sugar that goes into most cupcake icing. So, I made banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and as a token of "healthy" I put this adorable hedgehog on top. Btw- I am claiming all credits for this one :)))

Mint tudjatok, par hettel ezelott LoLo szuletesnapjat unnepeltuk. Itt meg lehet nezni az "Eper es Csiga" szulinapi buli kepeit es videot. Ezen a partyn kivul, LoLo ovodajaban is megunnepeltek az esemenyt. A tanitoneni kerte, hogy vigyunk be "cupcake" sutit minden gyerek szamara, par regi fotot, gyermekruhat amit picibaba korukban viseltek, valamint ha van ilyen kedvenc CD-t/dalt. Ugy dontottem, bananos sutit (cupcake-et) sutok es a szokasos porcukros tuledes krem helyett valamivel egeszsegesebb diszt teszek a cupcake tetejere. Igy lett a mindenfele zomanc, krem es "fondant" diszites helyett kremsajt (krem?) es epersuni. A sunit a sajat talalmanyomnak titulalom :)) mert meg ilyet nem lattam sehol. 

You will need: 

- the cupcake :)

- a strawberry cut in half  

- mini chocolate chips

- almond slivers (you can use the flat kind also)

- frosting to "glue" the eyes and nose in place

You know what to do ... the only "trick" I learnt was to use a toothpick when applying the frosting to the mini chip. Also, I did use the store-bought kind in miniature amount, just so the chocolate chip sticks better! 

Ami szukseges a sunihez:

- suti :)

- felbe vagott eper

- apro csokidarabkak (vagy barmilyen mas csoki/edesseg ami apro is szemnek lehet hasznalni)

- hosszaban felvagott mandula (napraforgomag is lehet - bar akkor nem ennyire disztingvalt majd a suni)

- cukor-vajkrem (amivel a szeme es az orra oda vag ragasztva) 

Gondolom leiras nem kell hogy keszul a suni, de annyit azert tanultam hogy a kremet legjobb fogpiszkaloval ravinni a szemekre/orra. En bolti kremet hasznaltam, mert abban annyi a cukor hogy akar ragasztonak is hivhatnak, de otthon ugyanugy el lehet kesziteni a vaj-porcukor "ragasztot" :) 

Jo sundorgest! 

    

P.S. "Don't call me a porcupine!" :))))

P.S.2. These are the photos LoLo brought to school ... Time flies!

Ezt a ket fotot vitte LoLo az oviba ... Repul az ido!

If you'd like more hedgehog kind of stuff or need some creative news in your life, you may "like" me on Facebook or sign up for a newsletter (or both)! I have many exciting projects in store to share and hopefully more often. 

Ha szeretnel maskor is sunis ujdonsagokrol hallani vagy kreativ dolgokrol olvasni/tanulni klikk a "like" gombot a Facebook LoLoVie oldalan. Meg sok-sok mas kreativ otlet sundorog a fejemben amit majd itt megosztok! Sziasztok!

    

LO(lo)V(i)E, LV

Strawberries & Snails Gardening Party - LoLo 3!

I've been so eagerly preparing for this party that I have not posted anything in ages. I started planning the festivities soon after I returned from my Paris trip - about a month before the actual date.

Ugy dontottem hogy matol magyarul is irok a blog. :) Udv minden uj olvasonak! (Elnezest az ekezetek hianya miatt, de igy sokkal egyszerubb). Nem igerem hogy szo szoros lesz a forditas, de igy ha barki meg szeretne valositani az alkotasaim egyiket itt meg tudja majd nezni.  

It's never easy to pick a theme for a birthday party, let alone for boy/girl twins, whose interests are a world apart. So, instead of asking what they wanted and getting 15 ideas all at once followed by a fight, hair tearing and various other ways of forceful persuasion, I picked the theme myself. Strawberries are such a wonderful fruit and they are plentiful in May, so I figured I would go with that. "We could eat them, plant them, draw them" I thought, but was reminded later on that strawberries are too feminine (apparently), so I needed to add masculinity to the mix for London's sake. My inspiration turned out to be sitting in a basket at Ikea (I hate to do the advertising for the store, as I am sitting here fuming over their terrible customer service, but Ikea it was.) I found a cute snail finger puppet, which became a part of the theme and everyones' give away gift.    

Nem egyszeru szulinapi partyt csinalni ikreknek, de ugy hogy lany/fiu ikrek meg nehezebb, mivel annyira eltero a ket kis egyen erdeklodesi kore, hogy kozos nevezore sosem jutnank. Igy ahelyett hogy 15 otletbol vivtuk volna ki okollel, hajtepessel es harapasokkal azt hogy autos vagy babas partynk legyen nem kerdeztem es en valasztottam - az eper temaju bulit. "Majd epret ultetunk, eszunk, vagunk, festunk" - gondoltam en egeszen addig amig nem informalt ferjemuram, hogy az eper tulsagosan noi szymbolum ... Ferfias inspiraciomra egy Ikea kosarban talaltam egy lila/zold ujjbab csiga szemelyeben, amely a kesobbiekben a vendeg gyerekek ajandeka egy reszeve valt ...     

Ladies and gentlemen, introducing ... 

LoLo's STRAWBERRIES AND SNAILS gardening party ....

Tehat holgyeim es uraim ime az Eper/Csiga szulinapi party kepekben ... 

Party table in preparation with daddy Geoffrey in sight

Keszul a party asztal Geoff apaval a kepen ...  

I have to point out things I like and I don't like also .. See the burlap? We could only get the gardening kind, which has large gaps in the weaving and so the skirt of the table is see through 

(I don't like it! .. Should have put a pink tablecloth underneath the burlap ... Or if you would like the burlap look make sure that you buy the coffee bag kind and not this one. ) 

Ime az asztal, de be kell vallanom hogy nem tokeletes :( ugyanis a szoves a zsakon nagy lyukakat hagy, igy atlatszo lett :(( Ha zsakkal szeretnel asztalt teriteni ne a kerteszboltban vasarold a zsakot hanem mint en tettem. A kavezsak (peldaul) sokkal alkalmasabb ... bar en ezt eddig nem tudtam ... 

Table still in preparation ... We were waiting for the cupcakes to get to the place ... 

Meg mindig nem keszult el az asztal .. varjuk a sutiket ... (cupcakes)

Arrived! Strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese and strawberry frosting and a gummy strawberry on top. I like cupcakes in flower pots, but hated the idea of anything baked into the pots (or tins). God knows what chemicals are these things treated with, 

so all I did was insert the cupcakes to place ...

Megerkeztek! Epres "cupcake" eper-turo kremmel a tetejen es eper gumicukorral diszitve. Jol mutatnak a sutik a pici cserepben es sokan ebben sutnek is, de en inkabb papirban sutottem - sosem lehet tudni milyen vegyszerrel vannak a cserepek bevonva ...  A cserepek peremere szalagot ragasztottam hogy mutatosabb legyen.

LoLo's delicious strawberry/chocolate cake. A gift to LoLo baked by Edit, third year in a row. 

THANK YOU!

LoLo keresre sutott eper/csokis torta. Edit immar harmadik eve sutotte meg LoLo szulinapi tortajat ajandekba. KOSZONJUK!!!!

The MENU: Strawberries and whipped cream, savory muffins (feta, sundried tomato, basil muffins), mini crustless vegetable quiche, PBJ and cream cheese/strawberry slices sandwiches, strawberry cupcakes, baby carrots, celery sticks, baby tomatoes, baby bell cheese and cake. I really wanted to serve vodka/strawberry lemonade but there was no way of transporting the large glass dispenser to the park and we would have been probably also arrested for serving alcohol, 

so we didn't (but I really wish we did :))) 

A MENU: Eper es tejszinhab, sos "muffin" (szaritott paradicsom, bazsalikom, feta), mini zoldseges/tojas "quiche", PBJ - mogyorokremvaj es lekvar valamint kremsajt es eperszeletek szendvics amiket virag kinyomoval vagtam ki, babarepa, celler, baby paradicsom, baby bell sajt es torta. Igazabol en meg vodkas-epres limonadet is szerettem volna felszolgalni, de nagyon nehez lett volna a parka becipelni a tobb literes uveget teli itallal, na meg az USA-ban tilos nyilt helyen az alkoholizalas, igy netan meg buntetest is kaphattunk volna igy sajnos a felnottek is dzsusz dobozokkal iltottak szomjukat :) 

    

I cut out the sandwiches with a flower cutter. 

There were two baskets: peanut butter jelly and cream cheese/strawberry slices sandwiches. 

A ket fonott kosarban mogyorokremvaj es lekvar es kremsajt es eper szeletes szendvics talalhato.   

My talented friend, Bird from Bird's Party created all these wonderful printables (including this banner) - also third year in a row .. We basically don't do parties unless Didi (Edit) and Bird are involved :))

Baratnom, Bird keszitette a grafikat a nyomtatott papirdiszekhez (szinten immar harmadik eve) 

Nalunk nincs buli Edit es Bird segitsege nelkul :) 

Before all the baking was done I did some sewing ... 

Strawberry pillow for Lola and the snail (Crafting Tilda's friends) for London. 

The picture is a cork board covered in strawberry fabric with tissue flowers creating the #3

A sutes elott nekilattam varrni ... 

Az eper kisparna a Lolae, a csiga a Londye lett ... Az eper, a kisparnan kivul focilabdakent is mukodik mint ezt kitapasztaltuk ...  Egy tablara raragasztottam az eper anyagot es zold szalvetaviragokbol ragasztottam ra egy harmast. 

The netting was bought at Ikea and I added the bunting and ribbons. Now, this was quite a project as I hand-sewn all bunting to the frame for the fear of getting caught in the net like a mermaid ... 

A halo szinten az Ikea-bol van. Varrtam ra kis zaszlokat es szalagokat. Hat ez egy eleg nagy munka volt, mert nem mertem varrogepet hasznalni hogy bele ne varrjam magamat a haloba mint egy hableany.  

Tissue paper pom-poms are a must for an easy and impressive decoration. 

Szalvetabol keszult pom-pomokat egyszeruen lehet elkesziteni es nagyon mutatos disz.  

Everybody loves balloons!

A lufikat kicsit-nagyok szeretik! 

The take-away gifts. Water bottles stuffed with gummy strawberries and a finger puppet snail. 

A partyzok ilyen ajandekokat kaptam bucsuzoul a cserepes/nevvel ellatott/ kidiszitett eperpalanta, luficsiga es nyalokaviragon kivul ... Szines flakonok gumieperrel toltve es csiga ujjbabbal diszitve.   

Perhaps the most popular activity was picking flowers from LoLo's garden ... I was amazed how all these 3 year olds caught on to the fact that the center of the flowers was a lollipop immediately .. :)

Talan a legsikeresebb a gyerekek koreben ez a LoLo viragkert volt. Meglepo, hogy a gyerekek milyen hamar eszrevettek, hogy a virag belso resze nyalokabol van :)  

LoLo's flower garden

LoLo viragos kertje 

Flower picking was followed by decorating flower pots with foam stickers. 

All in preparation for the strawberry plants ...

A viragszedes utan cserepet diszitettunk szivacs matricakkal, hogy aztan legyen mibe ultetni az eperpalantakat 

We also had bubbles, did face painting, played with a ball, learnt a song called "A Little Seed" to which we were introduced by a local children's band Rolie Polie Guacamole and momma made her debut as a balloon artist making everyone a balloon snail of the color of their choice. 

A sok finomsagon kivul volt meg buborekfujas, arcfestes, jatszottunk labdaval (koszi aki hozta :) es megtanultunk a Rolie Polie Guacamole egyuttes dalat. Mama debutalt mint gyakorlott lufimuvesz es mindenkinek luficsigat is keszitett.  

Face Painting ... Arcfestes ... 

According to LoLo, there is no party without a party hat!!! (If this one reminds you of a paper cup it may not be by coincidence)  

LoLo velemenye szerint a party nem party party kalap nelkul, igy keszult az is fiuknak es lanyoknak kulon. Itt Miki viseli a fejfedot (ha poharra emlekeztet a kalap az nem veletlen ;)  

And for the girls with tissue pom-poms on top ... 

Es lanyoknak pom-ponokkal diszitve ... 

THE END ... LoLo party next year!

Jovore itt ismet .. LoLo Party!