9 Year Old Birthday Party

"9" Birthday Shirt

My daughter's ninth birthday was rapidly approaching. I sat down with her to plan out a party. Her first choice was a sleepover party, but I decided we all are not quite ready for that. Sydney suggested make your own pizzas, doing their nails and some crafts. I added decorating cupcakes. We took a trip to JoAnns to get ideas for crafts. She chose a felt sewing kit as an idea and making personalized name bracelets.

We scheduled the party for a Sunday afternoon through dinner time. As the four guests arrived, we started with the cupcake decorating. My daughter and I had prepared buttercream frosting and mixed a few colors. We set up purple for frosting and a few decorating bags. Some girls spent a long time decorating while others stuck to more simple designs. I set the cupcakes aside on a tray for later.

Next we made pizzas. Each girl received a mini pizza shell on a dinner plate. I had many toppings and tomato sauce. The majority just wanted cheese so that was easy.

While we waited for dinner, it was time to make bracelets. Each girl got a wire about twice as long as needed. We had letter beads and many different colored glass beads. A small paper plate kept beads from rolling everywhere.  Once they were done, they headed to the basement to play Just Dance while I attached the clasps.

Then it was time for pizza!  The girls enjoyed their custom pizzas and chatted about what to do next.  We still had nails to do and another project.  Sydney explained the choices.  It was decided that nails were next!

We have a decent collection of polish and nail art accessories.  Some girls felt very comfortable doing their own nails, while others wanted some help.  My daughter and another asked for leopard spots, so I did those.  Another wanted black polka dots, I helped with that too.

After the nails were dry, they played a bit more, then we had the cupcakes.

Finally, we moved onto opening presents and nearby we had the last craft project set up.  These nine and eleven year old girls were quite self sufficient.  We had felt, printed felt, embroidery floss, ribbon, and jewel stickers.  My daughter planned to make little layered squares with her initial on it.  I also made up an example of a tiny tote bag with a ribbon handle.  Most of the girls made the little totes.  It was also nice to see the experienced sewers helping the less experienced.


Our party was three and a half hours long and it was just right.  I wasn't sure if we had too many sit down activities, but for this group, it was the perfect party.  The two little breaks when they went in the basement and had some free time seemed to balance it all out.

More Hooping Jewelry

After making the hoop ornaments, I hoped to make a pendant for myself.  There were smaller 1 1/2" curtain rings, but they seemed too big.

I ordered some smaller black metal rings in 1" and 1/2" sizes.  They both looked very hoop like with tape covering them.  Using my new prism tape gave them an even neater look.

Hula hoop pendants were made and are proudly worn by the girls in my family.  Perhaps someone else will like the larger sizes at my Etsy store.

Hula Hoop Necklaces with 1/2", 1" and 1.5" rings

Adventures in Paracord

My eleven year old son came home from middle school talking all about paracord survival bracelets. I had never heard of them, but a quick search showed me all of what I had been missing!

Paracord was on his Christmas list this year and he received quite a bit to experiment with. First we learned about the bracelets and used a side release buckle. The best tutorial I found was from Stormdrane, well known in the world of paracord creations. My son picked it up right away and made a few already.

Next we wanted to make a necklace. I purchased some plastic safety clasps and looked around at images. I finally settled on a four strand braid or diamond braid. Unlike the bracelets, I was not finding many necklace tutorials, especially lacking in how to attach the safety clasp.

Before I could attach a clasp, I needed to learn the diamond braid. Somehow I had never learned it before. I think that every tutorial I saw was very intimidating. Finally I got it. In my mind I just figured it out as under two, over one, then repeat from the other side. I was able to teach my seven year old with this method and she got it too.

We also got some different threads and cording to make thinner styled bracelets and necklaces for the girls in the house.

I decided to make a tutorial for the four string diamond braid that might help others out who learn as I do.  The first one is more detailed, while the second image shows the pattern and how it goes.


To add the necklace safety clasp, I decided to stop the braid, cut three of the strands short and tape the braid. To make the longer strands on each side fit into the clasp, I removed the inner threads and threaded the remaining strand through the clasp and knotted it. The tape is not an ideal long term solution. I plan to sew a few stitches to secure the braid instead and possibly use a heat shrink tube on top. I think the heat shrink tubing is what others are using.

Earrings fit for a Toddler

Kessa was playing with a small bracelet this afternoon and putting it on and off. Then she gave it to me. I hung it on her ear. She thought that was a great idea, earrings! She felt it wiggle against her ear as she moved.

I thought why not. I have beads and clear elastic. It wouldn't take more than a few minutes, even with a toddler helping.

And there we have toddler earrings or are they ear bracelets?

Of course they will only be worn in short bursts with constant supervision.

Hoop Jewelry

Having spent a great evening hooping with my daughter, I still had hooping on my mind in the morning. I thought having some hoop jewelry would be really neat and a super conversation starter!

I did a search for hula hoop earrings and didn't see anything like I had in mind.

As I was considering possible hoops for earrings, I remembered the black jelly bracelets of my youth. They would make neat hoops too.

Along with my toddler, we started at Lowes. I planned to check out o-rings for earrings. As soon as I was looking at them, my toddler called out hula hoop! They were perfect.

I picked up some jelly bracelets too.

Once home I took my hoop tape and cut it down to 1/8" and wrapped the "mini hoops". They are all very cute!

Mini hoop earrings and mini hoop bracelets

Jewelry for Support

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I knew that there would be many parts of my journey I would need to travel alone.

I remembered that some of my friends had prepared for the birth of their babies with a Blessingway. One part of the Blessingway was for each participant to bring along a bead for the mother to be. The beads would then be strung together to make a very special necklace or bracelet for her to wear.

I shared my desire for something similar to my sister. She collected all the beads for me and strung them together. The bracelet is made up of beads from my family members. The necklace is from friends.

The bracelet in particular became a regular part of what I wore, especially when I went to appointments and even for one of my surgeries. I felt very well supported and it was a nice reminder of that support.

Breast Cancer Support Bracelet

Breast Cancer jewelry

In December 2006, I was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer. There are so many, many pink ribbon items out there. Before I had my first surgery, I made a some little pink ribbon dangles for friends and family to think of me.

It was fun and easier than I expected to make jewelry. I made a bunch of different earrings during this time and donated some for sale to the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester.