Baby Onesies

Baby Matthew will be here before I know it! So I found a bunch of John's plain onesies and invited my sisters and mom over for a night of crafting. (yes, we have matching TEAM CRAFT shirts! and yes, the pic is super dark...I apologzie!)



It was really fun (even though we missed mom being there!) and we made about 6 or 7 onesies for the baby. A couple still need to be sewn (the wonder under was giving us some trouble so I actually have to sew now!!), but here are a couple favorites.



I used a tie freezer paper stencil from Presser Foot and it is Brad's favorite onesie. It is precious! I tried to make suspenders like I saw somewhere in the blog world, but mine didn't turn out quite as cute. But, oh well!



My sister painted on the anchor since the baby's room will have a nautical theme. I think it turned out so sweet! I used a stamp to create the safety pin onesie. Kind of plain, but I am sure the baby won't notice!



I used a freezer paper stencil from Aly&Ash for the guitars. Then I just wrote in 'Mom Rocks'. This might be my favorite one...even if the writing is a little light!


Now we just need the baby to get here so we can try out our creations!

Painting with Golf Balls

I had heard about an arts and crafts activity where you dip marbles into paint and then roll them around on paper. But then I saw this post (via One Pretty Thing which I LOVE!)where someone commented about using golf balls instead of marbles. So I decided to try it out today with John John. He really seemed to like the activity and it kept him entertained for about 20 - 30 minutes which is a long time for an 18 month old kiddo! We did end the actvity with a bath since John decided he also wanted to paint his arms, but that is ok!

Here is how it went for us...

We started with our paint and golf balls. I put an old sheet on the tile floor just to make clean up easier and I am very glad I did! I would have been mopping up quite a bit of paint!



I tried to use a big tupperware box first in case John was wild with his rolling of the golf balls. But the balls kept rolling in the grooves on the side so it wasn't working out well. We switched to a pan which worked much better!




John first used the golf balls like stamps with the paint.



He would put each golf ball back in a pile of paint and then put them back in the pan. So cute! I threw in a little mini-lesson of colors while he did it!



It took some 'progression' for him to roll the balls. I had to put the balls on one side of the pan and then ask him to roll the balls to me. Then he would manually roll the balls back and forth. Then he was able to lift one side of the pan to roll the balls and I would have to tilt it for him to get the balls back to him again. He finally figured out how to lift the ends of the pan to make the balls roll back and forth all by himself! Yay for John John!



And here is the final result! We ended up with three pretty art pieces!



I have a felling these will be turned into Father's Day cards for this weekend just like our last arts and crafts project. So, Dad, act surprised when you see your card on Sunday! :)

Teacher Themed Retirement Party!

My MIL, Diana, retired after teaching for 40 years!! Yes, FORTY years! So, my sister-in-law and I (and the hubbies!) threw a retirement party for her this weekend. It turned out great and so I had to share!

First I searched online for retirement parties. Let me tell you that there isn't much to be found in terms of retirement parties! So, I found a cute baby shower and graduation party that had a school theme and used those for inspirations.

I made this invitation using Photoshop Elements. I am still learning how to use the program, but thought the invites turned out cute! I then printed them at Walmart as just regular old photos and mailed them off. It was much cheaper than ordering fancy invitations!



I also made coordinating decorations such as the napkin rings, bottle labels, and cupcake toppers:







My SIL, Kristin, helped me get crafty with all the decorations. Even John helped me make the tastiest peanut butter rice kripie treats. (I got the recipe at Big Mama, but just don't feel like searching her blog for the exact post. If you find it, they are AMAZING!)





For the main food table, we tried to think of types of food that would be served in a cafeteria. So, we went with chicken fingers, pizza, corn, mashed potatoes, rolls, etc. It was super yummy! We used some old math textbooks I had to decorate along with the traditonal red apples and teacher-y pencils!














Yummy cupcakes and a cute carved watermelon fruit bowl was in a seperate room.








For favors, we had the typical high school snacks- nutty bars, starcrunch, cookies, rice krispie treats, and oatmeal creme pies.







Last, but not least, we had our drink station with personalized water bottles, sodas, and 'adult' beverages.




Hopefully Diana had a great time with all of her friends! I know she is ready for her exciting new life as being a retired lady!

John's Custom Headboard

If you are playing along with my 'guess which fabric is which game' (there were about two of you!), then here is our first answer!! The brown fabric is for John's new headboard! (either of you guess correctly?!)

So, I am in LOVE with how the headboard turned out. Here is what it looks like (obviously not attached to the bed yet) and here are some simple instructions on how to make it.

Supplies:
-plywood (although I think we used mfb)
-fabric
-egg crate or foam
-batting
-staple gun and staples
-saw of some sort
-loving dad and brothers-in-law to do the actual labor and a sister who knew how to make the headboard (see example below!)




How to:
1. Cut out the shape of the headboard you wanted. We just wanted to curve out the corners of the headboard, so my sister used a bowl to trace a curve on each side. Easy peasy. There are TONS of pics on the 'net that you can search for headboard designs. We also decided to make the headboard tall enough that it reaches all the way to the ground. You could make it shorter and just hang it on the wall if you didn't have as much plywood lying around.

note the curved corners...can this be any easier?!


2. We then layed the egg crate layer so that the bumpy side was against the headboard. Wrap around the edges of the headboard and staple around nice and tight. Trim excess if necessary.







3. Lay the batting over the egg crate, wrap around the edges of the headboard and staple around. This just helps give it a nice overall finish and pull the egg crate even tighter. We actually got a cheap batting so it was on the verge of tearing as we stapled so I would suggest either not buying the cheapest stuff out there or buying a little bit thicker batting so it doesn't tear as you staple. Trim excess if necessary.

here is the crappy batting from Walmart. it did the trick...barely




this is what the headboard looks like with the eggcrate and batting stapled on...we are getting there!


4. Now comes the fun part- stapling on the pretty fabric! We held the headboad upright (instead of laying it on the table) so that way the girls could stand back and tell the boys how to get the fabric nice and straight across the top of the headboard. Obviously, you would want your fabric pattern centered (if there was a center) and you would want to make sure the fabric lines were perfectly horizontal. And by perfectly horizontal, I mean that we eyeballed it.



5. We started at the center and stapled the fabric across the top, all while holding the headboard upright. (Those boys are so talented!) Once we got to the curves, we cut the fabric into strips so we could pull it tightly without it all getting bunched up. Once it was stapled (and a dose of double stapling to make sure it wasn't ever coming off!), we trimmed the excess material which hopefully I can use somewhere else in the room!



6. Tada!!! John's custom headboard! Seriously, how cute did it turn out? And considering that a new bed would cost me about $700 (why oh why do I like the expensive stuff?!?!?), I saved myself quite the chunk of change making this on our own and attaching it to the frame we already had. If I had to guess, this project cost me around $60 or $70 bucks. Not too shabby! It took the guys about an hour to do and considering that all I did was take pictures and eyeball if the fabric was straight, it was extrememly easy for me. Double bonus!



As I am typing, the headboard is sitting in the dining room waiting to be put in John's big boy room. My goal is to have his new room ready by the end of June, so be sure to check back for the final room reveal! Get excited!