So Long

Well, readers, I have news for you:  after nearly 3 years of blogging here on Max & Ellie, we are officially signing off. :( But we're not fading into the ether; we're just moving! I (Melissa) started another blog, Lulu the Baker, before I ever started blogging here, and keeping up two blogs is just too much, and has been for a while. Which basically explains why posts on Max & Ellie have been few and far between lately.

Our Etsy shop will still be open and we'll still be blogging all of the same things--crafts, projects, etc. We just won't be posting it here.  So please come visit us at Lulu the Baker for all of the posts you love plus MORE--like a Max & Ellie Little Chef Apron Give-Away! Go now!

Last-Minute Christmas Gift: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

1 hour of making cookie dough

+

1 hour of packaging

+

6 bags chocolate chips

+

8 lbs butter

+

red baker's twine

=

easy and cute gifts for friends

and neighbors

Click HERE for all the details.

Peppermint Oreo Pops

Follow our elf Pinocchio to Lulu the Baker and find out how to make the cutest holiday food on a stick!

Apron Give-Away!

In addition to all of the cute things we listed in the shop last week, we've added some flirty, ruffled aprons. And we're giving one away this week on Lulu the Baker (my food blog).  In September, I posted a recipe for one of my family's favorite dinners, Cheesy Chowder, and it has been cookin' up a storm on Pinterest ever since!  To celebrate it's success, we're giving away one of our brand new aprons!  You can find the give-away HERE, and the recipe HERE (I promise, you'll love it!).

New in the Shop

Max & Ellie are ready for the holidays with a shop full of cute new items and more of your good ol' favorites!

bobbi pin trios:  a set of 3 coordinating silver-toned bobbi pins, all carefully matched, made by hand, and attached to a sweet, scalloped card; 1 large resin blossom, 1 fabric-covered button, and 1 stitched felt flower

$12

appliqued baby one-pieces and toddler tees:  sweet designs hand-drawn and hand-cut on the cutest designer fabrics, stitched onto cotton baby and toddler gear

one-pieces: $15 each or 2 for $25

tees:  $17.50 each or 2 for $30

little chef aprons:  oh, how we love these little beauties!  Perfectly sized for 3- to 6-year-olds, completely reversible, with elastic necks and velcro waist bands so they can put them on by themselves; perfect for playtime or helping in the kitchen.  And did we mention they're adorable?

$20

tiny charm earrings:  hand-stamped on sterling silver or 14K gold-fill, these little 1/2" beauties are made to order and oh so sweet; choose from 4 cute designs or your initials!

$18

tiny charms:  just like our tiny charm earrings, but attached to a super-sturdy jump ring and ready to string on a chain or charm bracelet

$8

boo boo kits:  fully stocked with band-aids and alcohol wipes, but also the perfect size for credit cards, gift cards, business cards, etc

$5

blossom earrings:  sweet, resin blossoms in a variety of bright and happy colors, all with sterling silver posts and backs

$13

celebration bunting totes:  grocery shopping and taking books to the library have never looked so good!  A canvas tote with two lines of hand-painted triangle bunting, plus one appliqued felt flag and one appliqued fabric flag

$20

Happy Thanksgiving--Do You Want Pies With That?

click HERE to see some of our family favorites:
caramel apple cheesecake pie
sawdust pie
apple slab pie
lemon blueberry buttermilk pie
sour cherry pie with pistachio crumble
pumpkin chiffon pie
&
coconut custard pie

A Body Birthday Party

Sometimes it's really funny (and bittersweet) to look back to this exact time one year ago.  I see my kids all day every day, so I don't notice how much they're changing. But when I look at pictures of them from last Halloween or from last year's birthday party, it strikes me how much they've grown up.  Case in point:  it feels like our six-year-old has been a major, hard-core tomboy forever, so it amuses me to think that for her birthday last year she wanted a Sleeping Beauty party!  This year, in fine tomboy form, she wanted a body birthday party (she wants to be a "tummy doctor" when she grows up).  Since her birthday is less than a week after Halloween, we were careful not to make her party Halloween-y at all:  no bloody body parts, no gory limbs, etc.

When the party-goers first arrived, we traced their outline on a big piece of butcher paper and gave them crayons to do a life-sized self portrait.

We hung all of the self-portraits in the hallway and took pictures of each kid with their artwork!

We had some unexpected down-time between activities and lunch (because I completely forgot about one of the activities we had ready to go), so I put some Yoga for Kids on the TV.  And they LOVED it! Seriously, those children were positively spellbound!

We tried to keep lunch easy and relatively healthy, so we had pizza delivered, and carrot and celery sticks, red and green grapes, and juice on the side.

After a failed attempt at a homemade pinata (it cracked), we bought a white baseball pinata from the party store, picked off the red detailing, and taped on some construction paper to make it into an eyeball.  That seemed way less weird than buying a person pinata and having the kids bash it, which just seems creepy and inappropriate!

The birthday cake was actually really easy.  A homemade chocolate cake with homemade chocolate frosting, and then a skeleton torso made from white store-bought fondant.  It was just like play-dough. (idea from Country Living magazine)

Our party favors were inspired by the Scooby Snacks we had at a friend's Pink Puppy Party over the summer.  They're shaped like bones and taste like cinnamon grahams.  We just dipped them in white almond bark and made them into "Bone Cookies."  I ate a ton of these!  Luckily, I saved enough to give away as party favors.

The other party favor each child got to take home was this cute, very scientific book full of facts about skeletons.  I spotted it in one of the Halloween book orders that came home from kindergarten.