Glamour for teddies

June is always a big month in the DC household with two birthdays coming very close together. Mine was last week, and then yesterday my gorgeous Tall Small turned 8 and I swear she grew another inch overnight. She's up to my shoulder now, though she has a way to go before she catches up Mr DC.

For the very first time we were able to have her birthday party on her birthday - a terrifically exciting prospect for anyone, I think you'll agree. After the success of the mug painting we were contemplating an at-home pottery party but it turns out one of her little friends has had the same idea for next month. So ... thinking caps on. Here are a couple of clues:


Lots of concentration and creativity and glue and trimmings and sequins.


And a fair few of these furry friends.


Got it? Yes indeed, Build a Bear eat your heart out, we made summer beach costumes for our teddies. Aha! Lots of frantic cutting up of net half an hour before the girls arrived and a lightbulb moment when we realised the beach skirts were far easier if the bears were wearing their ribbon waistbands before we tried to tie the fabric onto them.


There was slightly heart stopping moment when they all looked at me in confusion after I'd explained they were going to use glue to decorate their T-shirts, but they soon fell in with great enthusiasm and I could kick myself for running out of time to take pics of the fashion show.


And the best part of all? Tall Small loved every minute, and was able to spend time with a friend she's known since they were both 6 months old but these days we see only a couple of times each year. When we got to the end of the party one of the girls turned round to her mum and said "You're too early!" And I have to say I felt the same way - this really is a fabulous age for still-quite-little-but-growing-up-every-day girl parties.

Cheers!

When I lived in the US, I remember going into a local cafe and asking for a cup of tea - and being given iced tea which was probably wise given the temperature outside but wasn't what I was expecting at all.

Perhaps it's because the humidity and temperature in the UK rarely approach those in North Carolina, but even on the hottest days here I drink hot tea (well, lukewarm by the time I get round to drinking it). Iced coffee, certainly, but not iced tea. Well, unless it's Long Island Iced Tea of course, and even then I'd prefer Pimms. Actually, I remember making a huge jug of Pimms for friends in the States at a summer barbecue, and they thought it was oridinary iced tea - we didn't realise that's what they thought till it was too late and as a result we had a lot of unplanned extra overnight guests. But I digress.

I painted this mug last time I visited my parents, at one of those fab pot painting places. We've picked it up this half term, and we had another painting session while we were there. And just in case anyone is in any doubt whether this mug is theirs, I named it.

I do fear I'll die of a tea overdose soon though ...

Sorry for my unexplained and extended absence - nothing sinister, just an excess of 'stuff' to get on with! I can't promise it won't be the pattern for the next few months ...