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kids

Cupcake Decorating Party

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cupcake decorating party Vivat VeritasMy daughter turned three last week! We threw her a birthday party with the theme “cupcake decoration” (You can see the first birthday party “pink and piggy” here and second party “Minnie mouse” here). I love planning a party like this. I start by collecting images on Pinterest (party idea board), and slowly collecting the items for decorations. Andy’s grandmother was kind enough to send me many cute pieces like cupcake liners, hello kitty cupcake toppings etc.

The day before the party, I baked about 100 cupcakes(!), which certainly satisfied my baking urge that I get once in a while. For the party, I added the whipped cream on top, since I was too lazy to make actual icing. They don’t cell easy icing mix like they do in the U.S. here. The kids loved it! I was a bit concerned that decorating cupcakes would be beyond what a three year old and her friends could do, but they seemed to have had fun decorating and licking the chocolate toppings.

girls birthday party decoration by vivat veritas cupcake toppings by vivat veritas heart cupcakes by vivat veritas table decorationg for three year old by vivat veritas party decoration by vivat veritas cupcake shop birthday party by vivat veritas kids party cupcake decoration party by vivat veritas DSC_0277 copy DSC_0280 copy DSC_0284 copyI decorated the house with tissue paper ponpons and washi paper garland that my friend, Taren of Oslo and Alfred made. The one side of the wall is decorated with washi tape (DIY here) and I also have Kiko’s watercolor”art” hung up on the wall. handmade pinata by vivat veritas handmade pinata by viavt veritas2Andy is not known for his DIY skill, but he volunteered to make a pinata. That is something you can buy at Target for 10 bucks in the U.S., but in Japan such a thing does not exist. We tried to order one on Amazon, but after adding the shipping cost, it was about 50 dollars. Andy read some tutorials online, and used balloon, newspaper, flour and water to make the shell. After two or three coats, and letting them completely dried, he popped the balloon and put candies inside. It looked ugly, so I attempted to paint it with gold spraypaint, but it ran out while I was painting. So you can see it in the picture that the pinata has some “bold spots”. Oh well, the kids liked it, so I think that is what matters the most!

We did not call this party a “birthday party” on purpose. We did, at first, just like we did for her 1st and 2nd parties. But she started to act a bit princessy and act as though she would necessarily get all the attention because it was her birthday. So Andy and I told her that we are doing cupcake decoration party so that everyone can enjoy. It took some talking with Kiko, but at the end I think she understood. Attitude gone, problem solved.

I very much enjoying having my little girl in my life, and the more she grows, the better it gets. I don’t really look back on her baby days as I think she is more fun to hang out with now that she can talk. There are some kind things she says, like “come here mommy sit with me! Do you want some blanket?” that makes me chuckle. The other day, I let her paint her nails pink with my nail polish, and after she was done, she was so proud and asked me to take a picture of her nails(evidence here). Sometimes I imagine what it would be like to see her all grown up, living on her own and having a chance to grab lunch on Saturday or something. It would be amazing!  I look forward to those days.

娘が3歳になりました★

おうちで「カップケーキデコレーション」をテーマにパーティーをしました。
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Made:: Floral Spring Coat for a Toddler

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kiko floral spring coat by vivat veritasThe first year I lived in Philadelphia, I was surprised that the Summer came right after the Winter. There were multiple days of 40 degrees and all of the sudden, the temperature rose up to 80s and everyone starts wearing t-shirt and flipflops. As I love hot weather, I did not mind having Summer and skipping Spring. However in Japan, we have a rather prolonged Spring, where the temperature goes back and forth which makes me wonder every morning what in the world I should wear. I’ve learned to have multiple layers for Spring season in Japan, so I can take off one layer when I am dying of heat and humidity in a train, and put it back on for chilly night.

Be that as it may, I thought perhaps Kiko could benefit from light weight Spring coat. I was very pleased by the winter coat I made for her, I decided to make another one with the same pattern. I made a few adjustments this time –

♡ Added in seam pockets on the side, however, the pocket openings were too small for her hands!
♡ I did not add the round collar like the coat, and instead, left as no-collar coat.
♡ No lining.

I completely forgot that the seam allowances were not included in the pattern. As with many Japanese patterns, you have to add your own seam allowances when you cut out the patterns. One reader commented in the past that she does not add seam allowances to the paper pattern, but to add it while cutting the pieces out of the fabric. I tried that for her coat and it was very easy to do. I completely forgot to add the seam allowances on the go this time though. So the coat ended up a size smaller than the last one, but it worked out alright since the fabric is not bulky and there is no lining. kiko floral spring coat2kiko floral spring coat by vivat veritas2

I did not make her many clothes at all when she was a baby since we were lucky to have people giving us clothes as gifts or hand-me-downs. Also as a baby, Kiko could not care less what she wore. Now that she talks, it is more fun (or frustrating at times) to see her reaction to the clothes I make for her. Last time was a big success since she is into pink, but this time, she was not so crazy about it. It was a good opportunity to teach her to appreciate the gifts she is given even if she does not like it.

ピンクのコートと同じ型紙を使って、娘にスプリングコートを作りました。
今回は丸襟はつけず、ノーカラーコートにして。
花柄に丸襟はくどいかな、と思ったのもあったので。
あとはサイドにポケットを付け、裏地はなしにしました。

前はスナップボタン仕上げにしたので、自分でもぱちん、ぱちん、て着れます。

chie and kiko 20140407

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Toddler Pink Coat

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toddler pink coat by vivat veritas2I made myself a pink coat this year, and also for my daughter! I did not mean to match, but I had about an meter left of the wool I used for my coat, and that was the perfect length to make a mini version for Kiko.

I really enjoyed sewing her coat. It took much less time! I only sewed for two nights, about 2 hours at a time. Kiko goes to bed at 7pm, so after that is my sewing time. I used the coat patterns from a Japanese sewing book, but I cannot remember the name of the book! I have been trying to remember what that was, but since I borrowed the book from a library, I am not sure which one I used. I go to a local library every other week, and borrow a bunch of books including picture books for Kiko, novels and sewing books. I appreciate the library having a good selection of Japanese sewing books, as they have the entire series of “Drape Drape” etc. Most of the times, the books are returned without me making anything from the book, but I enjoy flipping through pages and reading the instructions.

The tracing of the patterns came easy as they are small. Instead of big Kraft papers I usually use for drafting patterns, I used copy papers. I skipped a lot of the tailoring for this coat, and used iron-on interface and avoided hand sewing as much as possible. The only hand sewing I did was to catch stitch the seam allowances down inside the coat, so they are not flopping around.

toddler coat lining by vivat veritas

I used a fun printed polyester fabric for the lining. It is the same as the fabric as this dress. I like the playfulness it adds to the coat.

I used flower decorative buttons and snap buttons for actual closure. I was not happy with these snap buttons though, as they are plastic as opposed to metal, and don’t snap as easy (I have to press hard) as I would like. I thought snap buttons will be easy for Kiko to button on her own, but because of the plastic buttons, I still end up doing them for her… I bought them online, so I did not know their quality before hand.

Overall, I am very happy with the result. I would use the pattern again. Maybe a Spring coat, with cotton twill or linen. It might be fun to alternate the round collar to hood, or go without a collar. It makes me happy when Kiko brags to her friends saying, “mommy made it!”.

自分のコートを作った生地の残りが１ｍほど残っていたので、娘にもコートを作りました。
型紙は、図書館で借りたソーイングの本から。
本の題名を忘れてしまって、どうしても思い出せないんですが、確かなんとか女の子の服。とかいう本。（そんなタイトルの本たくさんありますよね。。汗）
サイズは大きいかなと思いつつ１１０で切ったんですが、ぴったりでした。
来年は着れなくなっちゃうかも。

２時間×二晩で縫い終わりました。
子供の服はらくちん♪
娘も気に入ってくれて、嬉しいです。
次作るなら、ポケットつけて、コットンツイルかリネンでスプリングコートにしたいな。
丸襟の代わりにフードか、ノーカラーにしても良いかも。

toddler pink coat by vivat veritas3 toddler pink coat close upby vivat veritas6toddler pink coat by vivat veritas1 toddler pink coat back view by vivat veritas4

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