It's a Sesame Street kind of Day

My little monkey is turning 2! I know...I can't believe it either. Our Carnival themed birthday from last year was a huge success so I needed to find a theme that was just as fun. Now, of course, I did ask my little man and even with his limited vocabulary, we were able to settle on Elmo!

I am so excited about the Elmo theme and there is so much on Pinterest to help me with this that I couldn't contain myself. So my next few posts will certainly be Elmo-rific.

So let's start with the invitations. Now normally, I would just use normal envelopes, maybe color coordinating, but look at these. How precious, right!
You can buy these on Etsy from the Mom2Aiden store. I didn't know how much time I would have to get these ordered and delivered so I tried my hand at making them.

So first, I tried to find red envelopes and realized that wasn't as easy as I thought it would be (or inexpensive). So I found cheap white ones at Michaels...plus used my 40% off coupon (don't leave home without it). I also bought a pack of the primary color cardstock since I knew I was going to be using the paper for other projects.

So here's what you need for this project:
* Red Cardstock
* White envelopes
* White Cardstock
* Orange Cardstock
* Black Cardstock
* 2 circle punches (one bigger than the other)

So since I am using white envelopes, I still wanted to add red for Elmo's face. So I measured the envelope flap and cut it out with red cardstock.

 

I was using 5x7 envelopes and was able to get 4 of these shapes from 1 8x11 piece of paper.

Once I cut out enough of those, I moved on to making Elmo's eyes. For this, I was lucky enough to have a circle punch. I used a 1" circle punch for the white of the eyes and a 1/2" circle punch for the pupils.

 

Then based on the size of the eyes, I cut out an oval in orange paper. I didn't have a punch for that.

Now, glue them all together for this fun piece.

It really didn't take too much time and it was pretty inexpensive.

Then I was able to insert these cute invitations.

  I was able to create these and then printed them at Best Value Copy. If I haven't bragged about them before, then shame on me. These guys print super fast and super cheap. I would highly recommend using them if you need to print anything in color.

Sunshiny Day

Happy Mother's day to all of you Motha's out there. My day was wonderful, but I actually liked the days leading up to it better because that's when my creative juices were flowin.' As I was brainstorming what to get my mother for the big day, it hit me...she is so thoughtful to create a play space for C in her house...that I thought I could make her something for that room. It's styled right now in Yellow and Gray (very hip...my mom...very hip).

Anyways, so I began searching Pinterest and found some great printables that fit the theme I was looking at...You are my Sunshine - a song that my mom always sang to me.

I found these at Alderberryhill.com
http://www.alderberryhill.com/you-are-my-sunshine-free-printables-its-overflowing-guest-post/




I was feeling creative and thought that I could paint something. So I got out my supplies.

Supplies include:
* Paint - yellow, red, orange, gray, white
* Scissors
* Paint brushes (the thinner the better)
* Print out of the outlines of the words
* Chalk - yes chalk


I was curious if there was any better way to paint the words onto the canvas versus just free-styling the words. I found this blog that had some great tips. http://www.discountqueens.com/paint-text-canvas/

And this is where the chalk comes in. Once you print the outline of the words on the computer, you rub chalk on the back of it.

 

Then you put the chalk face down on the canvas where you want to have the word. I tried to use yellow chalk and it didn't show up on the canvas. Use a pen and trace the letter. The chalk comes off onto the canvas.

 

 

Can you see the outline?

 

Then you can go ahead and paint it. I would recommend not painting on the inside of the lines, but the outside of the lines to make sure it's all covered. 

 

After doing a bit of this, I wasn't sure if it was the best way since I could still see some of the chalk on the parts I wasn't going to paint. I then tried to use pencil...paint doesn't totally cover the gray of the pencil. So honestly, I free-painted the rest, but I think if I had more patience...this would have been a good method.

 

Here's how it turned out:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Fishy Fishy

I have been searching and searching for quiet books and quiet activities for C to start playing with when we are out. Quiet books are online for $50. I am not spending that much on something that I could make. But I continue to struggle to find the exact activities that I want as well as ones that don't require a sewing machine. I may be crafty...but I have limited sewing skills.

Anyways, I found this adorable activity on Doodle Craft

So I went to work...and here's what I came up with. Honestly, it probably cost $5 to make 1 whole game. Make sure to use your crafting coupons :). My one suggestion would be to pick felt pieces that are a little darker in shade because you can see the magnets through the yellow and light orange felt.

Materials needed:
* Felt - Various colors
* Magnets (enough for two magnets per fish, plus some for the fishing pole)
* Scissors
* Glue gun
* Dowel rods
* String
* Glitter Glue (optional)

 Cut out 2 fish per color and glue the magnets in the head and tail of the fish. Glue the other side of the fish to make little fishy magnets.

 Add some glitter glue to add some scales to your fish.

I then took string and attached it to the dowel rod and glued the magnets to the end of the string and ta-da...a cute little game. I showed it to him today and he loved it. Now, I have to tuck it away for our trips so that he doesn't get bored with it.

Let's Catch Up

So since I just posted about Valentine's day, let's just keep the ball rollin since who knows when the next time I will post will be. December was full of baking yummy things and experimenting with all of the fun ideas found on Pinterest like these from Not So Idle Hands

They were actually pretty easy to make.

I actually bought the mini candy canes (which were on sale). Put them on a wax-paper lined cookie sheet in the heart shape and then just piped in some melted chocolate. Sprinkle with any colored surgar you have hanging around. Let it set. And ta-da, you have a cute little gift.


Here's how mine turned out:

I also had some chocolate left over and so I also piped some trees on the paper and used them as decoration on a chocolate cake (my Nana's famous chocolate cake).

I got lots of compliments. Enjoy!

Valentine's Day Healthy Treat

First, I realize that it is now March, but let's be real, I have an 18 month old and literally this is first time that I have downloaded my pictures since February.

Now, I was a bad mom last year and sent my kid to day care without Valentine treats for his little friends. He came home with all sorts of snacks and treats which of course mommy enjoyed. Well I would not make the same mistake this year. But of course everything is sugary candy...which of course, I love, but I also want to teach little C a little better eating habits. So I thought and searched for cute valentines on Pinterest.

I found some pretty cute ones. But realized that I liked these the best from

Tutto Bella Blog

It also helped that I had Cuties on hand and baby C loves them. I think he would eat 20 of them in one sitting if he could.

So based on these little cuties, I came up with this:

I had the bags left over from my wedding stuff and used a little bit of scrap paper. But really any little baggie could do.

Huge hit with the kiddies at the daycare. I even brought the extras to work with me and people seemed to like to change from the candy.

My new Halloween Wreath

Halloween…I can’t believe it’s already October and that the leaves are changing. Halloween decorations are out and about. I am hoping to go to a pumpkin farm too.

Well my latest search on Pinterest has led to some fun Halloween wreaths. I love a good wreath but they can get sooo expensive if you were to buy them.

Here are a few that I found on Pinterest that I was fond of.

You can buy this one on Etsy 

Or this cute Chevron one that you can find at Tatertots & Jello

So that got me thinking that I could make my own. I love the idea of the first wreath and how “Classy” it looks.

 Here’s what I ended up with:

Guess how much it cost me? A whole $2. My accountant husband loves that for sure. Although, I am pretty sure he would rather that I not spend any money or time on stuff like this, but you can’t win ‘em all.

Anyways, here’s my little tutorial on how to make this gem

Materials:

·        Various Felt Colors – I bought 1 8x10 sheet in white, black, gray, orange, and marigold ($0.20 each)

·        Wreath – I found this one at the dollar store. Now I had to do a little digging to find one that wasn’t broken, but they sell these all over the place (more expensive). I think this is why people wrap theirs in yarn. There are all sorts of tips on Pinterest for getting the base for the wreath – take a look

·        Glue Gun

·        Glue Stick

·        Scissors

·        Ribbon (use whatever you have laying around)

·        Piece of Paper and Marker – enhancement

Directions

·        So the first thing that I needed to do was make the fun flowers. I found some great tutorials online.

These beauties are from Keeping LifeSimple.

And I also liked these from Do More With Less: A day out...and a spiral felt flower tutorial

I wanted a combination of the two…

The gray and orange ones were way easier to make but the other flowers make for a nice dimension. You can find more specific instructions for how to make the flowers on the blogs above.

Then I just glued them on the wreath

Once that piece was done, I wanted to add in something extra, so I simply wrote “Boo!” on a piece of paper and attached it to the wreath

Not too shabby for $2, huh. Once Halloween is over, I can switch out the “Boo!” for “Give Thanks” or something. Pinterest strikes again!


This project is also linked here...See Vanessa Craft is one of my favorites and she has some awesome crafts

New Blog Topic: The Joy of Pinterest

Well once again, I have realized that I am horrible with the blogging. It's just not in my nature...and I don't think it will ever be. BUT...you want to know what I have realized...that I freakin' love Pinterest. I mean, I could get lost looking at that site for hours. And that is a problem. I may need a Pintervention soon, but until that point, I am going to share some of the things that I have found and actually made on Pinterest. This way we can see if these wonderful things actually work or if the people who post them are really too talented for all of us.

First on my list - October means Halloween and you can never have too many Halloween decorations. So I saw this little gem and thought, this can't be too hard right?

https://picasaweb.google.com/101228210398772412134/Halloween?authkey=Gv1sRgCOeJ07KO9eHGMA&feat=directlink#5589872348469580786

So the one thing that I don't LOVE about Pinterest is that people can post pictures of awesome and super cute things without the instructions on how to really make the item....

So here are the instructions (ps...I didn't take pictures as I was making this because I was running around making sure that my one year old didn't spill the paint)

Materials Needed:

* Orange Plate - I found mine at the Dollar Store

* White Paint

* Paint Brush - I used a foam one and a thin brush

* Black Sharpie Marker

* Orange Glitter Puffy Paint (enhancement)

* Small Child with feet

Instructions:

1. Depending on the age of the child, you will want to make sure that they are in some area where they can't run away and get paint on the floor. I strapped mine in his high chair - he couldn't get away even if he wanted to. 

2. Paint one of the child's feet with the white paint.

3. Press foot on plate - I brought the plate to the foot versus having the child step on the plate, You will see that the foot print isn't super clear, but it gets the job done. 

4. Clean off that foot.

5. Re-peat steps 2-4 with the other foot. Or use another child's foot if you have more than one kid.

6. Out line the feet with a thin white line - I would recommend using a white paint pen, if you have one, but I didn't so I used the paint...I think the paint pen would have make a cleaner line like in the example above.

6. Let the paint dry. I let it dry overnight. 

7. Use a black sharpie to write on the ceramic plate. You can then make eyes and a mouth on the "ghosts" too. Now, this is when the paint wore off a little and got stuck on the marker, so just take your time with this step. 

8. Enhance with orange glitter. 

9. There are some sites that have a similar project that discusses "setting" the marker by heating it in the oven, but I was unsure how the paint would react to it, so I am not going to do that. But feel free to experiment. 

Cost: $1

I had all of the other materials around the house.

Here's how mine turned out.