Tales of the Traveling Totes and Giveaway

Welcome to our September Issue of 

Tales of the Traveling Totes where

twelve ladies explore the world

with our MacKenzie-Childs' totes.

As part of our traveling tales we always

include a giveaway, so stay tuned for that

at the end of this post, and take time to

visit the other travelers to see where they have

been off to.

Miss Madi K and I had lots of fun this

summer.  

Our adventures together started out in Jackson Hole, Wyoming,

where Madi K and I took to the river for a river

rafting trip.

We stayed at a charming place called

Carlisle Ranch about 45 minutes

outside of Jackson where they have large

bunkhouses and these charming sheepherder

cabins.  There is a pond with a paddle boat 

and lots of space for kids to roam.  

Our friends are experienced river runners

and have invited us, our children and even

our grandchildren for several years.  Even

the three year old went down the rapids.

They have three boats and can take 30 at a time,

so we take turns running the river for two days.

It is a blast!!!  This is my oldest granddaughter

taking a fabulous splash in the boat.

In July Miss Madi K and I had a calmer

experience as we traveled to Cabo to check on

the progress on our construction.  She and I

especially enjoyed swimming up to the pool

bar and ordering shrimp tacos and shrimp

nachos and smoothies.  We told hubby we 

really liked being waited on at the pool!

This 20 foot tall rock had to be removed to fit the pool

in and we had fun watching as they drilled into the

rock, filled the holes with an expanding substance to

crack it apart.  Later we received a video of it falling

down the cliff.  LOOK OUT BELOW!

It's a slow process, much slower than we were promised -

surprise, surprise, but one of our favorite surprises

was this suspended circular stair outside that connects

the upper pool deck with the lower pool deck.

This is the main level, still not a lot of progress here,

but we return in October and the walls should all

be up.  

Not much to look at yet, but we are starting to 

see it shape up.

In August Miss Madi K and I flew to visit my sister

Jean in San Antonio.  We were joined by two of my

girlfriends that I grew up in Wisconsin with.  They 

had never been to San Antonio, and one of them

requested that we take an overnight trip to

Waco to visit Chip and Joanna Gaines' Magnolia

Market.  

Of course we were hoping to see the lovely Joanna,

and I did, on the cover of her book, so of course

I had to add her cookbook to my collection.

The store was delightful.  I just had to include

a tablescape from the Market.

Everything was so beautiful

but rather pricey.

I also had to pick up this gardening pad to use

at home.  (It ended up being a nice airplane pad

too - haha!)

We spent the night in a hotel, but if I had it

to do over again, I would stay in one of the Air BNB's

homes that were featured on Fixer Upper.  It would have

been about the same amount and we would have

had the whole home.  

The next morning we were hoping to get a chance

to experience Magnolia Table.  Reviews online

said that you could experience a wait of an

hour or more.  The end of August turned

out to be a great time to visit!  Baylor University

had just started and I guess most moms were home

getting their kids ready for school the next week.

We were given a wait time of half an hour.  Miss Madi K

loved the decor in the waiting area, actually she loved all of

the black and white checks on everything Joanna and

Chip have created.  After a lengthy 13 minute wait - 

yes, only 13 minutes - we were seated.

We had to start our breakfast with Joanna's

famous biscuits.  They are featured in her cookbook,

so I can't wait to try them.  You could choose them

with strawberry butter or sausage gravy, but

we asked for a side of both.  

The controversial avocado toast - Chip said it was too frou frou,

was amazing!

Most of the breakfasts came with their signature

Tater Tots, presented in a small cast iron pan.

They tasted more like Hush Puppies to me.  I

am not a huge fan of Tater Tots, but I loved these.

Every employee we encountered at the Magnolia

spots were utterly charming.  I finally had to ask

one if they all had to attend charm school.  We

had a delightful time in Waco.

If you visit, you have to take time to find some of

the charming furniture stores that have sprung up

around Waco featuring a similar style.  I just had to

take a photo of this gorgeous tablescape.  Made me anxious

for fall.

You know me, I can't resist taking photos of

gorgeous tablescapes.

  This one was at Simply Irresistable.

Check out Simply Irresistable

and The Findery. I am sure there are more wonderful

stores here in Waco. Wow if only I had a truck and

trailer to haul things home.  I did bring home some

compotes in Miss Madi K that I found at the Findery.

It was a great summer of travel and fun.

Now to experience more travel and fun visit these

fine explorers and see where they and

their Traveling Totes have been off to.

Come along and travel with:

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

 Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box

Katie with Miss Daisy @ Preppy Empty Nester

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader

Lea and Miss Scarlett @ Cici's Corner

Now for the fun!  This is our giveaway for this month.

I wish I could win!  Aren't these the cutest MacKenzie-Childs's

towels.  Makes me excited for Halloween.

Visit Linda at Life and Linda and leave a comment to

be entered to win these adorable towels.

Join us in December for another edition of

Tales of the Traveling Totes 

and for another giveaway!

Yikes this gives me chills!

I will be posting this with

Tablescapes Thursday

Share Your Cup Thursday

and

Dishing It and Digging It

DIY Mermaid Crowns

Mermaid crowns are so fun and easy to make

for your little ones, whether you want to

throw a mermaid party, or for dress-ups.

Click here to see our Mermaid Party we

threw for the summer birthdays.

We are blessed with an abundance of 

little mermaids, so I made eight crowns

for their party, so that each girl could

take one home after the pictures.

I had purchased one for myself a while back, 

and it was made on a coated wire, but I decided

to make mine on a soft foam fabric.  I simply

cut out a domed shape from the foam and

started gluing.

The centerpiece with shells and jewels were the beginning.

My first one I created on a flat surface, and when I went

to bend it to fit someone's head, it wouldn't bend, so

I began shaping it over a foil covered can so it

had a slight bend to it.  Keeping it draped over

the can, I continued to hot glue shells on until

I had covered most of the foam band.

This one was a necklace I cut apart for the centerpiece.

You are going to have foam showing,

so I filled in the small spaces surrounding

the shells with small beads.

I finished them by gluing some ribbon to the ends

of the foam to tie them on the girls' heads.  This way

they were adjustable.  The foam made them soft for

the girls to wear.

Mermaid crowns can range fro $50 to $250

online and I made mine with leftover beads,

jewelry and shells I already had.  You can buy

very inexpensive shells from Wal Mart or craft

stores.  The foam fabric was leftover too.  I

made all eight of them in under 2 hours.

I did bring my glue gun to the party as I knew we

would have a lot of girls trying them on.  

They had so much fun choosing which crown they 

would wear for their pictures, and they fit all sizes.

This would be a fun craft project to do with

your little mermaids too!

Make a Splash Mermaid Party

Summer brings out the mermaids in

all of us at Purple Chocolat Home,

so we decided to have a Mermaid Birthday

Party for all of the little granddaughters this

summer.

Three of them have birthdays within a week of

each other, and we have celebrated big in the

past with combined birthday parties - 

Frozen, Cinderella, and Unicorn parties.

We had it at our pool at Tuscan Villas

so all of the kids and families who were

invited could swim.

I wanted to create a balloon arch,

so I made it the night before and tested

it at home.  I purchased the arch kit on

Amazon, and an electric balloon pump. 

Both were around $20 each and were great

investments.  I also found a green sequined

tablecloth and a mermaid table runner- green and purple.

The arch took me about an hour to blow up

the balloons and assemble.  I had purchased 20 - 12

inch balloons online for under $20.

  The balloon arch was carried

over to the party in the back of my Denali

in two pieces and then reassembled.

The arch clipped to the ends of a 6 foot folding table.

I had painted the mermaid sign last

year at a craft night with my SIL.  It was to

go down to the houseboat, but I brought it back

for the party.

I made cookie pops with Oreo Cinnamon Bun 

cookies - yummmmmy!  They were dipped in

white chocolate and covered in disco dust.

My glass shell bowl had a piece of foam placed

in it and it was covered in brown sugar for sand.

My DIL made signs for the treats.

My daughter made the sea water.

I created eight mermaid crowns for the party goers

to choose from, and purchased mermaid hair and

a mermaid necklace for them to wear.

The blow up clam shell was the setting for their

pictures.

The cake was purchased from Sam's Club.

They make a 3 tier cake for $65!

I then embellished it with chocolate and

fondant shells, fondant mermaid tails,

gumballs, sugar crystal suckers

for seaweed, cotton candy for seafoam 

and chocolate spheres.

Fondant clam shells,

The biggest white balls are chocolate spheres,

the medium ones are gumballs, and the small ones

are candy.

The mermaid tails and small starfish are

fondant and the large starfish and shells

are chocolate.

Fondant sea horses painted with gold.

Their cakes make an impressive yet easy

cake for a party, and it tastes really

good too.

It was topped with a cute mermaid birthday

cake topper.

I only included the birthday girls and their

sister's pictures, but all the little girls got their

photos taken.  We had over 40 people attend.  It

was a huge hit for all of the family members.

Of course the kids had to put the clam

shell floatie in the pool!

Thanks for swimming by to visit

our mermaids!

I will be sharing this with

Tablescapes Thursday

Share Your Cup Thursday

Dishing It and Digging It