Mother's Day Quote

I think I may be addicted to pretty quote printables. I pin and pin them. I'm a visual person and I love seeing inspirational words displayed in such a pretty way.

I have fun making my own, too.  I love the cheery yellow of this one (it's my favorite color).  The adorable yellow flower "paper" comes from Citrus and Mint.  Love her designs.

As I was designing this, I asked my 5 year old if he liked it and if he thought it was pretty.  His response, "Well, yeeaaaah...if I could figure out what it is!"  Ha!  I just love that boy and I love being a mother.  I hope you all have a great Mothers Day!

Ducky Birthday Party

Perhaps you have noticed that I have scaled way back on my posting. I realized near the end of last year that this blog, and all the cute craftiness that went with it, were taking my focus away from where it should be.  I was becoming guilty of craftiness for craftiness' sake, something I said here that I've always disliked.  Not only does it take away focus from my family and other priorities, it's also expensive!  So, things got a bit sparse while I was busy.

But, I don't want the blog to disappear, so I decided I'm going to occasionally write some posts about parties and projects that I did before I started this blog.  There's no law that says my projects have to have been done right before I blog them, right?  :)  Plus, I have a few projects coming up that I'm doing because I want to or need to, rather than as fodder for the blog, so I'll be posting a bit more often.

The party I'm posting today was my youngest's 2 year old birthday party (he just turned 5...).  It's probably the cutest party I've ever thrown.

At the time, he was WAY into ducks.  Duck books, duck toys, duck songs, he loved it all.  So, what better party theme than rubber ducks?

The centerpiece of it all was this cute duck cake.  I modified this tutorial from Betty Crocker to make it.  

I made a bunch of cute garlands by punching out blue and yellow circles with a punch and then sewing them together on my sewing machine.  Seriously the fastest thing ever.  I just pedal-to-the-metal-ed it with my machine pedal and stuck a new circle under the presser foot each time the previous circle moved through.  

I also picked up a bunch of cheap and cute rubber duckies to sit around as decoration.  My little guy has thoroughly enjoyed having a bath full of duckies ever since.  :)

The blue punch (I think it was Blue Raspberry Kool-Aid) was so cute with little duckies floating in it!  And, I was so excited to find out that Target's store brand's generic "goldfish" crackers looked like little ducks!  

The birthday boy and his guests were all just toddlers, so the entertainment was low-key.  I gathered every duck book I could get my hands on, from our bookshelves and the local library.  I read them all a story, and then let them peruse their own books.  

And, in a slightly crazy move, I actually let them all play with rubber ducks in an actual bathtub.  I mean, how CUTE is this rubber duck bathtub?!  I put a plastic tablecloth underneath and only an inch or two of water in it, and it actually turned out fine.  No spills.  

 

 It was such a fun party.  Now if only my little guy was still that little!  :)

These boy party ideas were also featured on Spaceships and Laser Beams.

The Doctor

Both my son and husband wanted to go as Doctor Who for Halloween. I was going to have one be the 11th and the other the 10th, but as I didn't have a pinstripe suit or tan trenchcoat for either of them, they both went has the 11th. He's easier to dress. :)

For my son, I made suspenders out of burgandy ribbon, and a bowtie and fez (fezzes are cool!) out of felt.  Then he just wore his sunday shirt, a pair of blue slacks, and carried his awesome LED sonic-screwdriver flashlight.

 

 

We went a similar route for my husband, donning a tweedy-looking blazer from Goodwill instead of suspenders, and a cowboy hat instead of a fez.  (I wear a stetson now.  Stetsons are cool.)  

Granted, nearly nobody knew who they were supposed to be, but my guys knew they had cool costumes even if nobody else did.  :)  I think it may be time to start encouraging all my friends to watch Doctor Who on Netflix.  :)

Mad-Eye Moody

I better hurry and get the rest of the Halloween costumes posted before Christmas, eh? :) Is it just me or are the last 3-4 months of the year like a train speeding towards a cliff sometimes? I swear it was just September, and now there's just a month left in the year. The time just seems to evaporate!

One of my twins wanted to go as Mad-Eye Moody this year.  He's a big Harry Potter fan.

And, his costume was pretty easy.  No sewing involved this time.  He wore a brown t-shirt, khakis, and an old "pleather" jacket of mine.  He carried a wand that was really the staff of one of those little American flags everyone waves on the 4th of July.  

 

The main construction part on his costume was the "mad" eye.  Years back, we bought a box of plastic animals from Michael's or somewhere.  Its lid was a spinning globe.  I held onto it, thinking it might come in handy sometime.  And it totally did!  I painted the globe to look like an eye.  I hot glued it to some black felt, and attached a ribbon.  Easy (and free, since I already had all the supplies!) mad-eye.  

Weeping Angel

Any Whovians out there?  If so, this Halloween costume will either thrill you, or totally freak you out.  :)  I went as a Weeping Angel this year!  I'm not sure why I went to such effort for a costume that like 2 people at the Halloween party actually got.  But, the rest of them either thought I was a statue or the Statue of Liberty (which, IS a weeping angel, if you've seen the latest Doctor Who episode!), which I guess is close enough.

If I were a really on-the-ball blogger, I would have had this costume done in September and blogged it the first week of October (and would now be posting Christmas tips).  But, I'm not.  I'm a busy mom of three who got all the costumes done just in the nick of time.  :)    I've got a few more in the pipeline for...when I get to it.  (Just keeping it real, people, just keeping it real.)  :)

I had a few Facebook friends tell me they couldn't look at my pictures (or look away, if you know what I mean), as it was too freaky.  Can't say I blame them.  Weeping Angels are, in my opinion, the scariest Doctor Who villains.  

I've never done full Halloween makeup before.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be (and I didn't break out after, either!).

I used this tutorial as a jumping off point.  I wasn't going to go quite as gung ho as she did, as this was just for a few hour church Halloween Trunk or Treat.  But, it gave me a few ideas as to how to execute the costume.  

I used foam poster board to do the wings.  I cut wing shapes out of the foam board, and used the extra left over to cut "feathers" out of.  I hot-glued the feathers to the wings.  

 

  I used duct tape to tape the wings together, looser on the outside and tighter on the inside (if that even makes sense...), so they'd stay in a partly closed position.  

I then spray-painted them well, duct tape and all. 

I then added some elastic to them so I could wear them (in the same manner as the costume/little kid fairy wings you can buy).  I should have used heavier elastic, but all I had on hand was skinny little stuff, and by that point, I was ready to just.be.done.already.  :)  By the end of the night, my wings were pretty droopy (see picture above--I had to keep remembering to pull them up) because the elastic over-stretched.  Eh.  It worked out fine for one night.  

I used gray tights as long gloves, just like the original tutorial did.  I probably could have just bought gray winter gloves, as it was rather cold the night of the (partly outdoor) party, and I wore a grey long-sleeved shirt over the long "gloves" for warmth.

For the dress, I drafted a yoke for the top, then draped about 2 yards (1.5 maybe? Bad blogger...no good records were kept!) of fabric, gathered well, and attached it to the yoke (both in front and in back). 

 

I sewed the sides together, leaving the arm holes very large (and sleeveless) because I was just too lazy to bother with a zipper or anything.  I wanted this quick and easy and able to slip over my head!  I then tied a grey ribbon around the waist and we had a dress!  I duct taped (yes, sewing blasphemy, I know) a hula hoop to the hem, to give me a statue look.  

The wig was one of my favorite parts.  I sewed grey yarn to a...ahem...pantyhose cap, then braided and twisted the yarn into an angel-esque hairstyle.  I added a ribbon headband and everything.  Bobby pins don't really work with a yarn wig, of course, so I secured the bun with a few stitches.  

It was a very fun costume to wear, even if only a select few knew what I was.  I knew what I was, and my Doctor Who fan family members knew who I was, and they had a great time with me as I pretended to be a Weeping Angel and tried to "get" them.  :)  I had a seriously fun time wearing this costume and fully embracing my nerdiness.  

Tiny Prints Christmas Cards (And My Very First Giveaway!)

Yes, yes.  I know it's still October.  Perhaps I should be posting something Halloweeny.  (Soon enough, soon enough...)  I'm a planner, though.  I'm already thinking about this year's Christmas cards.  We did our family pictures a few weeks ago, so I'm all ready to go.

My favorite place for Christmas Cards is Tiny Prints.  Seriously, their cards are so cute.  I used them for my Christmas card last year.  Don't you love it?!

I'm having a hard time deciding which card to choose this year--they're all amazing!  Check out all these great Christmas card designs!  (And, of course, there are many, many more to choose from!  These are just a few of my favorites.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you decide to use Tiny Prints for your Christmas cards this year, they've got quite a few deals over on their Special Offers page.

And, you're in luck!  I'm hosting my VERY FIRST giveaway today!  (I'm pretty excited about that.  :)  )  You can win your very own adorable Tiny Prints Christmas Cards!

The great people at Tiny Prints are providing a promo code for $50 off your total order (not including shipping and cannot be combined with any other promos) for me to give away to one of my lucky readers!  To enter, just leave me a comment!  I'll announce the winner on October 29th.



Disclosure: I was given a set of holiday cards from Tiny Prints for this review. All opinions are my own.

"Love Is A Battlefield" Valentines

I have my next sewing project all cut out and ready to sew, but first I have to make sure my boys have valentines for their class parties.  

I saw these cute valentines by Jacolyn Murphy (she has a ton of really cute Valentine ideas!) about a month ago and decided that they'd be perfect for my boys.

They're cute, easy, and best of all, they were cheap!  :)  I found these army men on clearance at Target for 25 cents a bag.  Since I already had the cardstock and ink used to print the hearts, I made 54 valentines for only 75 cents.

I made the heart in Photoshop Elements.  The words are written in this cute soldier font I found at dafont.com.

Since I know I love free printables, I'm sure you must too, so I made you a free printable of this valentine so you can print them at home.  All you need to do is put your child's name at the bottom.  You can use whatever photo software you have to add the text, or you can just write it on.  (Both the large heart and the small heart by the name are just basic heart shapes using the shape tool in PSE, in case you want to add the heart, too.)

Enjoy and have a happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving print from Draw Pilgrim

I'm enjoying a lovely Thanksgiving with family today. I hope you are, too!

Valentine's Day Cards

(Made using this tutorial at Keepin' It Real.)

Ghost Treat-bag Tutorial

So, I read a lot of craft blogs, and they have lots of tutorials. I really enjoy tutorials; a lot of the things I make come from free online tutorials. I make a lot of stuff, but since most of it isn't my creation, I've never done a tutorial. But, I just came up with my own little craft, of my own design, so I thought I'd post a tutorial.

I wanted to make ghost treat bags for the girls I visit teach, but I couldn't find white lunch sacks anywhere. I know they used to have them; I've bought them before. But, I couldn't find any. I was set on my idea, though, so I made my own little white treat bags out of printer paper. Here's how to do it:

1.  (Which apparently I labeled as #3 in the picture, with step 3 labeled as #1.  Oops.)  Start with a sheet of printer or copy paper.

2.  Fold in half like a book.

3.  (incorrectly labeled as #1)  Tape together on the right side.

4.  Fold in the the right side about 1 inch. 
5.  Fold in the left side about one inch.
6.  Both long sides are folded in.

7.  Open the folds and fold one of the creases in the opposite direction to make the flat side of your bag (see 8).  Repeat on the other side until you have a rectangle (see 9).

10.  Flatten out again.
11. Tape bottom closed.
12.  Fold bottom in about 1 inch.  Unfold.  Refold one of the creases in the opposite direction as done in steps 8&9.
13.  Flatten out the bottom of your bag.  There will be a triangle on each side.

 

14.  Fold in both triangles.

15.  Tape triangles down.

16.  You should have a small rectangular bag.

17.  Flatten the top of your bag, with the sides tucked in.
18. Cut a rounded top.
19.  Open up the bag.
20.  Add googly eyes.

Fill with treats and enjoy the cuteness!