Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Little Miss turns 7 party recap...

Let me apologize now for the photo heavy post, but sometimes things are best "said" through pictures.  

As most of you know, our Little Miss turned 7 recently.  Seven sounds so old doesn't it?  Generally my kids have a theme all picked out months before their birthdays.  Little Miss, however, was uncertain this year, so I suggested a paper doll theme, and she actually loved the idea...usually I can't sell her my ideas so easily. I'm pretty sure I have as much fun planning the parties as they have celebrating.  I know that this isn't the case for everyone.  But for those of you who like planning and DIY projects, here's some of what we did. 

For the invitations, I used some paper doll postcards found on Etsy...
image taken from Etsy:  Charm Tape

...and attached this printed side to the back.




I ordered several other paper doll things from Etsy.  You can find the links hereherehere.

Instead of putting the goody bags together, I let the kids pick out their own swag. There were pinwheels, paper straws, bookmarks, bubbles, stickers, fruit snacks and these cute dress-up characters from the Dollar Tree.
 

I also bought the pink and blue bags at the Dollar Tree (2/$1.00).  I cut out fabric hearts and ironed them on and then printed out thank you cards and attached them with bakers twine (see above photo).

 I decorated the table with vintage hankies, flowers and milk glass vases...my favorites!


 (this was before I ironed the tablecloth ;/)
 My mom came over the night before the party to help me make the four layer cake Little Miss was looking forward to.  The cake did not really come out as I pictured it in my head.  The layers kept drooping and sliding, so I wrapped it in a piece of scrapbook paper to take care of the problem...it worked, thank goodness!
 By the way, the cake stand is actually glass candle holders from the Dollar Tree, spray painted white.  You can find a DIY here.
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 Little Miss enjoyed opening some gifts from her birthmother before the party began.  
 She was especially thrilled to get a Creeper.
 Everyone needs a light up green and red bow to complete the party outfit...no?





For food, we had a Mexican Menu and it was delish.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures of that because I was too busy stuffing my face.

And, that's a wrap on this year's celebration of our Little Miss' day of birth.
"On the eve of your birth, word of your coming passed from animal to animal. The reindeer told the arctic terns, who told the humpback whales, who told the Pacific salmon, who told the monarch butterflies, who told the green turtles, who told the European eel, who told the busy garden warblers, and the marvelous news migrated worldwide."
-On The Day You Were Born

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Castle Play...

Every time E would go to Michael's with me, he would go to the unfinished wood aisle and look at this castle, so I knew he would like it as a gift for his birthday.  I used the 40% off coupon and bought it.  



I used scrapbook papers and mod podge to cover the floors.
And painted the rest of it (I don't have a picture of the outside yet).
The best part:  it folds up and doesn't take up a lot of room.  Seeing my kids creatively play with these kinds of toys makes my heart happy.  Little Miss has requested a purple and pink one for her birthday.

"Play is the beginning of Knowledge."

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Pinterest...

I'm not going to lie.  Seeing some of my things pinned on Pinterest gets me giddy, even if it is all Minecraft and Star Wars stuff.  That green creeper gives me more hits on my blog than anything else.

 Are you on Pinterest?
 There is so much inspiration and creativity on there that sometimes it makes my head hurt.
 Here are my boards.
Pinterest honestly helps me to keep some of the clutter out of my head.  Instead of trying to store all the things I want to do in my brain, I can store it on my virtual bulletin board on Pinterest.  If I'm planning a party, I look on Pinterest and pin ideas. If I'm looking for a recipe for something, I look on Pinterest. By the way, you can also install a Pin It button and pin anything and everything right from the web.
 Typically I don't just go on to browse.  If I did, I'm sure I could spend many hours in front of the computer pinning.
 Here is the link to Pinterest if you want to check it out.  Happy Pinning!

“Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” — Albert Einstein


Friday, January 10, 2014

Routine...

Happy New Year!  It's been awhile.  After a few days of a somewhat typical routine, I feel like maybe I can get back into the swing of things and get myself back to blogging.  It's good for me.  For today, Here are some of my recent phone pictures, most from the holidays.  Enjoy!
 1. my gifts 2. glittery ornaments 3. curls
4. tag making 5. gift wrapping 6. Zart, the elf
7. gift for me 8, 9. gingerbread house building
 1. house decor 2. letter to Santa 3. gifts for birthparents
4. bags for the homeless 5. old bulb makeovers 6. one of my favorites
7. cupcake liner trees 8. handmade by memere 9. reminiscing 

 1, 2, 3. more handmade goodness
4. from a former student 5. ornament to support adoption 6. teacher gifts
7. snow 8. more snow 9. friends
 1. barbie doll cirque 2. lights 3. sugar
4. gift giving 5. best presents under the tree 6. traditions
7. decorations 8. no schedule 9. gingerbread people
1. my craftiness started long ago 2. we were cute 3. child labor
4. lasalette 5. old fashioned fun 6. friends
7. before the clean up 8. my personal hairdresser 9. after the clean up

I've also been having some fun with the new Flipagram App.  


Check out my video here.

If you're on Instagram, find abetterdream and follow me. 
Happy Weekend to you all!

The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

A peek...

At this year's Christmas Card.

the front:

the back:
(Little Miss and E's names with their ages are listed under the 2013)


Tuesday, June 25, 2013

DIY: Large "Bottle cap" magnets


I can't walk into Target without stopping at the dollar bins.  I found these bottle cap coasters a few weeks ago and grabbed several packages (I think there were 6 in a package for $3.00)  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, but I bought them anyway.  

I decided to turn them into magnets.  A little paint, a piece of scrapbook paper, a photo, some washi tape and magnets and I had myself an adorable new magnet.  The last photo shows the comparison with a typical sized bottle cap...these things are big!


I decided to have the kids each decorate one for their daddy for Father's Day.  It's a handmade gift and it was quick, even better!   (sorry for the terrible photos)



The possibilities for these lovely "coasters" are endless.  I suppose you could actually use them as a tacky place to rest your beer, but why would you want to do that? I think I'm going to try making a wind chime with them next.  I'll let you know how that goes.

Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Fairy Party Wrap-Up Post 3 of 3


Tired of all this fairy talk?  This is the last of the party pictures....I promise.



 I created a scavenger hunt on www.scavengerhunt.org   You can find my actual scavenger hunt here.  It was easy to create, find pictures to go with it and then print out.  I rolled them up and tied them with twine.  The kids used these buckets to collect their goods and branch pencils like these to check off their lists.  I got the pencils at Marshall's.

 For each item they found they were able to trade it in for a piece of candy.

 The pinata was filled to the brim (with mostly fairy stuff)...sorry boys ;(  Unfortunately we didn't even make it through all the kids...this guy "killed" it.
 Little Miss thoroughly enjoyed opening all her gifts this year.  She took her time; you only turn 6 once, so why not?







And here's the cupcake cake, easy peasy...one of the easiest I've my mother and I have made.  It was super quick.  You can see my our other cupcake cakes here.  Thanks again for your help mom!
The fairy cake toppers are from amazon.



It's so hard to believe it's been 6 years since our Little Miss entered our lives.  We have had such a blessed 6 years with her and it was a joy celebrating with our family and friends.

I think that people who can't believe in fairies aren't worth knowing.  ~Tori Amos