the slumber party kit!

The Slumber Party Kit is officially complete and up for sale! :) I am so excited about this! I've had the idea since around when I created The Book Fair Kit last April, and I hope to have some more kits in the future (I already have another one in the works!)

The Slumber Party Kit includes everything you'd need to recreate your childhood sleepovers -- whether you want to have a solo party (like I did for the accompanying photo shoot lol) or gather up your BFFs for an old-school sleepover or give your kiddo a little taste of what your own childhood was like! It would also make a cute thoughtful gift to send a long-distance BFF that's too far away for a real slumber party!

In the kit you'll receive a pre-assembled fortune teller, MASH cards, microwave popcorn, a friendship bracelet kit, a mix tape of 90's pop tunes with a hand-written bubble letter playlist and a "rental" movie that you get to keep. And it all comes in a hand-stamped canvas bag. It also includes a URL so you can download the digital slumber party kit, too! You can print out extra fortune tellers, mash cards and invitations and then use the scrapbooking elements to document your fabulous night!

The kit is available in my sweet and lovely shop here! :)

slumber party kit!

My first project for 2013! yay! It's a digital slumber party kit! It includes everything you need to throw a nostalgic sleepover (minus pajamas and pizza, of course.) It has printable invitations, MASH cards (you know, Mansion Apartment Shack House) and a fortune teller printable (with assembly instructions in case you forgot) so you can find out for sure whether or not you'll ever marry JTT. Once the sleepover is finished you can scrapbook your photos of the fun event with the digital embellishments included in the kit! It's available here.

I'm also working on a physical kit, which will also include a mix-tape (well, mix-CD) friendship bracelet materials, popcorn and more! Those will be available a little later this month :)

I originally came up with this idea because I'm always thinking about how much I'd love to have a slumber party with my online friends who live far away. I thought it would be a fun thing to send to someone who you can't *actually* have a sleepover with. I also thought it would be fun for young moms to share some of the slumber party traditions from the 80's and 90's with their kids! :) Every child should know how to fold a cootie catcher, right?

slumber party sunday

It's time for another slumber party! This coming week is the start of summer, so pretty soon I'm sure all of my yummy goodies will involve some form of popsicle or icy treat!




Is there anything better than chocolate covered fruit? I've always loved chocolate covered apples but isn't it annoying once you've eaten all the chocolate off and all you're left with is one big giant hunk of plain old apple? Well, this solves that problem. Cut them into slices first, then dip them, and the apple to chocolate ratio considerably improves! ;D More photos and recipe here!




Hitch Hike Lady is a great example of "don't judge a book by its cover." The artwork for the movie on netflix is dreadful... it looks like they just took a screencap from the film and added text over top in Microsoft Word. At first glance you'd think it's probably an incredibly cheap public domain b-movie that's better avoided, but you'd be wrong! It is so heartwarming, and it more than makes up for its budget shortfalls with a fantastic cast and super sweet script.

The film is about a British mother who decides to come to America to visit her son that she hasn't seen in years. All she knows is that he lives in a place in California called San Quentin. When her money runs out, she's forced to hitch hike her way there, with the help of a band of friends she picks up along the way. I really can't say much more or else I'd be giving it away, but let me just say that this was one of the most endearing films I've seen in a while. I highly recommend it, especially for the happy ending (and for Arthur Treacher, one of my favorite character actors) :)

You can watch it on netflix here!



Truth: What was your worst haircut catastrophe?
Dare: Act like your favorite tv show character all day.

slumber party sunday

It's time for another slumber party! Grab some comfy pajamas, make a bed fort out of sheets and pillows, break out the nail polish and get ready for some fun!! :D




If you've never had a pink lemonade cupcake, you don't know what you're missing! They're so delicious! I'm a big fan of most lemony treats, though. My absolute favorite are the lemon creme cookies that are sort of like vanilla oreos with lemon icing in the middle. omg so yummy!!

But back to the cupcakes. I've never made them myself at home, but I'm really tempted with this super easy recipe! Basically you just add lemonade mix to vanilla cake mix, and presto! pink lemonade cupcakes! :D You can see the recipe here!




Singin' in the Rain is a really fun musical about the switch from silent films to talkies. It's especially hard on one major silent star whose comically brash voice doesn't quite match her demure onscreen persona. It's a really fun movie with fantastic music numbers and super catchy tunes (even if you haven't seen it yet, you've probably heard "Good Morning" or the title song at some point, and had it stuck in your head)

I was just talking about Singin' in the Rain with Amber on Wednesday, and then Friday I learned that it's being re-released into theaters for its 60th anniversary! Neat-o!! And fantastic timing too... Gene Kelly is my grandmom's favorite actor, and it's being re-released on July 12th, just 4 days before her 75th birthday!!

It's not available on netflix instant, but you can watch it on amazon here! (Or, of course, you could see it in theaters next month!)



Truth: Most embarrassing moment in school
Dare: Pretend you're swimming underwater. Only counts if you're in public ;)

slumber party sunday

I haven't done one of these in a while! I swear, almost every Saturday I think "ooh, I should schedule a slumber party post for tomorrow!" and then I don't! I think it's mainly because the playlist part is daunting (as I mentioned earlier this week, I usually get hooked on one song and then don't want to listen to anything else) so I just decided to leave that part out and do music-less posts. Feel free to crank up some Spice Girls basically anytime you're enjoying* a slumber party sunday though! ;D




I made these once before and they're so tasty! I like cake a lot more than ice cream, so to me this is the absolute perfect kind of ice cream cone! :D You just pour cupcake mix into flat-bottom ice cream cones, stand the cones up on a baking sheet and cook according to the box directions. Super simple, and they're ideal for a slumber party treat! I can't remember where I originally saw this idea (I think it might have been Parade magazine like 5 years ago?) but I got the image here.




Not too many movies make you wish your house was haunted, but this one does. At least if Rex Harrison was the ghost! ;D It's a fantastic romantic ghost story and one of my all time favorites! It's kind of funny, I originally wanted to use The Solitaire Man as my movie for this post, but I can't find it for sale or streaming anywhere online at all (I recorded it from TCM) so I went with this readily-available favorite instead. One of the actors is Edna Best, wife of Herbert Marshall who starred in The Solitaire Man! I thought that was a funny coincidence :)

Anyway! You can watch The Ghost and Mrs Muir on netflix here, or buy it here. And if you ever get a chance to see The Solitaire Man, definitely watch it! It's a really good caper! :)



Truth: What is the most far fetched lie you ever told that someone actually believed?
Dare: Wear your clothes backwards for the rest of the day!


*I couldn't think of a better word that would be less presumptuous, but I do really hope that anyone who reads these does enjoy them! :)

Slumber Party Sunday

I haven't watched The Oscars in a long time, but I'm tuning in tonight because I'm a Billy Crystal fan :) I've been wishing they'd bring him back to host for ages, so I'm quite the happy camper! Truth is, I haven't actually seen any of the nominated films this year (I tend to watch older movies instead of new releases) so I'll have absolutely no clue what's going on, but I have faith he'll make me laugh enough that I won't even care. Anyway! I thought it would be fun to throw an Oscar themed slumber party today! Ready? Set? Action!

What Oscar party would be complete without popcorn?! The best part is the toppings. My mom opts for hot melted butter, but I prefer to sprinkle some hot cocoa powder on mine! Some other ideas -- grated cheese, melted chocolate, salt and sugar, cinnamon sugar, and I'm probably going to sound crazy for admitting this but I think garlic powder is insanely good! (image via)

One of my favorite movies is the 1934 Oscar winning comedy "It Happened One Night." It was the first film to win all of the big five awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Writing) and it deserved every one of them. It's about a spoiled heiress who runs away from her father and embarks on a bus trip so she can reunite with the man she loves. Her plans go awry when a newspaperman spots her, and decides that the rest of the journey will be spent together. That newspaperman is Clark Gable, so you can probably guess the rest ;) It's a super sweet film and one that I can watch over and over and over again!

Watch it: Google videos // YouTube // Amazon

Buy it: Amazon Rent it: Netflix

Truth: What is one must-see movie that you've never seen?

Dare: Dress up like you're walking the red carpet today!

slumber party sunday

This looks so simple, but so cute! I think I'm going to try it out this week using my own brownie recipe. Honestly, any reason to have strawberries and chocolate together is a plus in my book! Via Daisy's World.

I used to love "A Mom for Christmas" so much when I was a kid! I just found it on youtube this week and while it definitely isn't as amazing as I remember, it was so fun and nostalgic to see it again! I thought it was funny that the 'mom' is a mannequin, but the dad was the one whose acting was stiff ;) har har.. Anyway, it's a fun little made-for-tv 90's Christmas movie that's sure to bring back memories if you watched it when you were a tot! :) Buy it on amazon // View it on youtube!

Truth: What is the worst gift you've ever received?

Dare: Sing along aloud to the Christmas songs next time you're out shopping!

slumber party sunday

Every year we make 10 different kinds of cookies (I am NOT complaining. Let me repeat, I am NOT complaining.) but this year I want to try something different, and these seem perfect! Chocolate covered marshmallow reindeer with pretzel antlers! Too cute for words!! (via Betty Crocker Wannabe)




If you ask me what my favorite movie is, without skipping a beat I can answer "Sunday in New York." But ask me what my favorite *Christmas* movie is, and I could deliberate for hours. I just love so many of them! I can say, though, that Christmas in Connecticut is always one of the ones competing for my top slot. It's the coziest movie to watch at night with hot chocolate, bundled up on the couch while you can see your Christmas tree twinkling out of the corner of your eye! Watch it // Buy it



Truth: What is your favorite Christmas tradition?

Dare: Go make cookies right now. GO!! ;D