Toddler Art Tuesday

Last week we FINALLY got around to having an arts and craft activity for John and his cousin Bella. We even planned one that Baby Matthew (who isn't a baby anymore!) could do with us.

This was yet another messy project. Thankfully, we were at my sister's house. :) I took vanilla pudding and used food coloring to make different colored 'paint'. We taped wax paper to the table and let the kids finger paint with the pudding.



Of course they loved this, especially when they realized how yummy the paint tasted. Then they skipped the painting and went straight to eating!









Tomorrow is our arts and crafts playdate at my house. I will be sure to plan something not so messy. :)



I link up to these parties!

Douche Bag No-Nos

One of my friends has a blog, The Pisces Girl. Yesterday she put out a fabulous post on offenses in fashion made by the 'douche bag'. I found it to be hilarous, so if you are not offended by the mere mention of 'douche bag', please go check it out!

I link up to these parties!

Pirate Party Shirt [Tutorial]

Remember these precious pirate party invites? Well, here is another little sneak peek for you!

Big Brother can't go to the party without his very own pirate shirt! Matty B will be wearing a water shirt with a skull and bones, so he is set. So I wanted to make sure John was festive too! This is what I came up with...trying not to make it to 'skull-y' because I don't really love skulls on babies. :)






I think this shirt turned out with a perfect mix of pirate and party. Don't you?!

So, let's get down to the nitty gritty of how to make this precious shirt. (If you aren't super crafty and want to buy one of these pirate shirts, go HERE!)

Supplies:
-t-shirt (I got mine at Walmart and had to take off the front pocket first)
-fabric paint, paint brush
-freezer paper
-iron
-small scrap of fabric
-fusing (like Heat N Bond)

1. I found a picture of skull and bones online from Polish the Stars. Then I used my Sure Cuts Alot to cut out the image onto freezer paper on the circut. (I am still LOVING the cricut! My mom had to give the 'the talk' about sharing with my sisters. Bet she didn't think she would have to do that with her 30 year old daughter!).

2. Iron the freezer paper to your shirt. Then fill in with black paint. If you need more specific directions on freezer paper and using the cricut, see this old post: HERE





3. Remove freezer paper from shirt and it should leave the skull and bones neatly painted on your shirt. Awesome!

3. I used a cricut cartridge I had on hand to cut out a bandana shape. (It was the paper doll cartridge which has super cute stuff on there!). I ironed it on top of the skull, but be careful because the paint will smear. So try not to smear black paint all over your shirt! Then fill in with red paint. This took several coats to cover over the black skull.






4. After removing the freezer paper, I used the end of a paint brush to add white dots to the bandana. I did this to help blend the red because it didn't cover the black evenly.



5. I made a little party hat by cutting a small triangle from my scrap material. I then used fusing (ie Heat N Bond or Wonder Under) to iron it to the shirt. Again, be careful not to smear paint all over your shirt! I then took small strips of the scraps to make a little poofy part for the top of the hat. I sewed those directly to the shirt. And because I want to be extra cute, the scrap material is from a fabric bunting I am making for party decorations. John will match the decor! hahaha!



And there you have it. A precious pirate party shirt. I can't wait for John to wear it at the party! Like I said before, keep checking back to see what else I have up my sleeve for this party!





I link up to these parties!

Family Tree Subway Art {Tutorial!}

If you happen to recall, Brad and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary this month! The traditional present is wood, and I am nothing if not traditional. Every year we say "Let's stick to a $40 budget on presents" which leads to "Let's just make our vacation our present" or "Let's just make all the new plants we bought for the front yard our present". Aren't we super romantic?

But this year I actually made Brad a present! And it was only completed two weeks after our anniversary! Not too shabby! I saw this family tree poster on Etsy and about had a heart attack when I saw the price. I loved the idea but couldn't (and wouldn't) spend that much money on a poster. So, cute little ol' crafty me made one for about $10!





I love how it turned out and love the distressed look of it.

So, for those of you like me who are on a budget (and may have been called a cheapo at least once before in her life), here is how you can make one for under $10!

1. Using Microsoft Publisher (or program of your choice!), create the subway artwork. I used my parents, my in-laws, where we met (at Texas A&M...WHOOP!), our current street address, and our wedding date. I did 'insert word art' so that way I could stretch out the words to fit the page as needed. Then save as a jpg.



2. I uploaded this pic to Walmart's online photo store and ordered it as a poster. I think I ordered an 11x14??? It cost about $8 including shipping. You can save $1 to get it sent to the store and pick it up yourself, but I would rather pay that extra $1 as to not have to take the boys into Walmart just to pick up one little poster.

3. I had my hubby cut a piece of plywood we had in the garage. Don't worry- he still didn't know what this was for and this was his only task in the whole project!



4. Using white paint, I painted the sides of the wood and a little bit of the top of the plywood. I correctly assumed the board and the poster wouldn't be the exact same size and I didn't want wood showing through.


(I took this pic just in case you didn't know what paint and a paint brush looked like. You're welcome!)



5. I painted a nice, thick coat of Mod Podge on the board and then put the poster on the board. Then I let it dry.

5a. I actually put mod podge on the top of the poster as well, but that was a big ol' mistake! So, don't do that!

6. It is time to distress it up, baby! I used a power sander and sanded all over the poster to distress it. Brad's sander must be super powerful because it only took about 3 swipes and I was done. I think if I had just a piece of sand paper it would have taken a little elbow grease to get it to look like this. (Remember part 5a? All the mod podge got sanded off immediately. You can see all the pieces to the side of the board on this picture. So, that was kind of a waste of time!)



7. I once again put a coat of mod podge on the top of poster once I finished distressing. Once it dried, I put on one more layer just to make it a little more smooth to the touch. (These pictures are from when I added the coat of mod podge before sanding, but you get the idea!)





8. And....done!



So, to total up the cost:
poster: $8
paint, wood, mod podge: on hand from old projects

TOTAL: $8.

WOWZAS!!!!!!

I link up to these parties!

Faces in Charleston

Brad and I took a little vacation last weekend to Charleston to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. Brad works for Southwest Airlines so we lucky to get free flights. Even though we only get stand-by passes, this is the one reason we get to take vacations every year! We also use a Hilton Honors credit card in which we gain points towards free hotel stays. So, we get free flights and 'free' hotel for our vacations. Again, these are the ONLY reasons we are lucky enough to travel each year!



Anywho, we usually go on a short trip around our anniversary since it is in June and when I was still teaching, I didn't have to worry about taking time off work. We decided on Charleston this year and we had a blast! We are also thankful that our parents watched the boys for us. Of course as soon as we left, both boys came down with colds and weren't probably the easiest to take care of. :(

Our first outting of the trip was to visit Ft. Sumter. Brad is a huge history buff so this was right up his alley. I took a picture of the door and thought 'Hey! This looks like a face!'. Aren't I just so high level with my thinking? :) So when I saw faces while we were out and about, I snapped a pic. As you can tell, I wasn't looking all that hard since I only have four pictures, but I thought I would share.









Doesn't the airplane just look like it is sticking its tongue out at us? :)

I link up to these parties!

...and I Had The Time of My Life...

For those of you who don't know me well, (which is most of you!), I love love LOVE to dance. This is evidenced by my dance performance during my 8th month of pregnancy. :) Well, let's add this to the list: dancing in a FLASH MOB DANCE!





You probably won't be able to see me in the video. I am SUPER short...so...yeah...

The dance was organized through a dance workout class I go to at my gym, called Danceaton. I LOVE this class! I am super lucky that my mother-in-law watches the boys every Monday morning so I can go at 8:30 without having to take the boys. The teacher organized this dance performance, and it is the third one they have done.

Well, I talked to my best friend about possibly dancing in the flash mob dance, but I told her I might wus out because I didn't know anyone from the class and didn't want to stand around like an idiot not knowing what was going on. She said I should go and it would be a way to meet new people. So, I dragged my poor husband and kiddos in the 150 degree heat to watch me dance. I had a BLAST and I even befriended a super sweet lady from class! My new friend, Kendra, has a fabulous blog and even posted a video of our great performance. Go check it out here!





Seriously, Brad is a trooper! I owe him big time because he had to wait for an hour and a half with the boys to watch us dance for 4 minutes. A lot of miscommunication with the teacher and sound issues which led to to a slightly grumpy Brad and VERY sweaty boys. But I paid him back by visiting USS Yorktown with him last weekend in Charleston (which was equally hot but much more fun!).

I am so ready for the next performance! Next time Brad said he would just show up 1.5 hours late to watch me. :)


I link up to these parties!

Pirate Party Sneak Peek!!

I don't really believe it, but Matty B is turning ONE in less than two months! Seriously?! I of course started planning his party a couple months ago. :) Since it will be about a million degrees at the end of July in Texas, I wanted to have the party where kids could play in the water. Seeing as I don't have a pool, I decided to have the party at a local park that has a splash park. I reserved a pavillion and we are set for the kids to run around and have fun while keeping cool!

I wanted a theme that went with water, but didn't want something cheesy like a luau or something. So I decided on pirates because I could make it cute and boyish pretty easily. I have TONS of decoration and party ideas that I will be sharing as we get closer to the party! But for today, I am sharing the super cute invites.



I made these bad boys using photoshop. They are printed and are ready to be mailed this week! I am already excited about the party...and sharing all the fun party stuff with my favorite readers! :)

I link up to these parties!

Toddler Art Tuesday

My sister, Allison, and I are still doing our weekly 'Toddler Art' playdates with our kiddos. Some weeks are more productive than others! Last week John and Bella each painted two paper plates with little sponge rollers I saved from Easter. This quickly turned into finger painting!








Then I took two paper plates, stapled halfway around the edges, filled with a small scoop of dry beans, and then continued stapling. Now each toddler has their very own musical shaker! So easy and John loves playing with his!




This week I actually have an activity planned that even Matthew can do so I am really excited! Check back next week and see what we are doing!

I link up to these parties!

my new obsession: Cricut + Vinyl!!!

I think my new obsession is going to be crafting with my new cricut that my mom bought for me. Well, she bought it for me and my sisters but that precious baby hasn't left my house yet. :) I promise I will share!! Just not quite yet.

I wanted to try out some crafts with vinyl, but it sure is pricey at the craft stores! So I ordered a couple yards from a sign company online along with transfer tape. The shipping was a tad high, but the supplies were WAY cheaper! As soon as I got the vinyl in the mail, pulled out the trusty cricut and started cutting.

And this is what I made!





OK, so I didn't actually make the soap pumps themselves; I just made them cuter! I got these soap pumps at Walmart for about $4 each a couple months ago. They are plastic and probably cheaply made, but I figured I couldn't go wrong trying them out for a total of $8. Every time I wash dishes I think 'These will be SO cute with vinyl labels!'. And I think they are SO cute with vinyl! The SCAL saved the day again by letting me use a font I already had on my computer. Sooooo glad I bought it!

Stay tuned for the next vinyl project coming up soon!!

I link up to these parties!

Upgraded {NO SEW} Library Tote!

I have had 'library tote' on my To Do list FOREVER!! I finally got around to it last week. John John was at Nana's and Matty B was asleep for his morning nap so I figured I might as well be productive. Sure, I could have cleaned the house for those precious 30 minutes, but that is SO BORING! Plus my mom had just bought me (and my sisters) a cricut at a garage sale so I really wanted to put it to good use. I bought Sure Cuts A Lot and I am so glad I did! It made this project SUPER easy!

So, let's get to it! I took this ugly bag I got when I was preggo with John (baby AND a free bag?!? AWESOME!).



And I transformed it to this.



(and in real life, the straps coordinate much better with the applique. I promise!)

Here is how I did it just a couple easy steps; no sewing involved!
1. Cut rectangular piece of background material. (I cut two pieces because I put the monogram on both sides of the bag since the cord bank logo was on both sides.) Add fusing to back and then iron onto bag. I used Heat N Bond. (follow directions on package for fusing!)





2. Cut a rectangle of the monogram material and iron fusing material to back. Use your fabulous new cricut and SCAL to cut out the letters of the monogram.





3. Iron the letters onto your bag.




4. Use bag in public proudly instead of keeping it hidden in your stroller storage basket at all times.



See, wasn't that easy? I hardly ever do projects for myself so I am extremely excited to have my own little personalized bag!

...and big thanks to my mom for buying us this cricut! Isn't she the sweetest???



I link up to these parties!