Sunday, November 4, 2012
Vinyl Obsession!!
I have always loved using my cricut to make vinyl projects. It is just super fun to see something and then go and create your own version. Sometimes it's a total Flop! Othertimes it is totally awesome! I have found so many ideas lately and I just wonder how I will ever have the time to do them all...but I can bet you that I will somehow make time...funny isn't it? There's never enough time to get the laundry done, dishes washed...but a Pinterest craft?!?!?! Stop Everything!!! Yup, that's me!
My new obsession is creating these personalized cups and the cake platters/covered dishes. Yes, I know, these are not new items but they are new to me seeing as I have just now found them at a local store where they didn't cost $10 apiece without any personalization. I wasn't sure if there were something that people were interested in or not, so I only did a few that would apply for local areas-like the schools around here for the die hard fans. I did do a couple of last names on the cake platters and on one of the cups. The pics aren't awesome cause of the lighting, but I love the personal touch. I can def see this in my Christmas giving future! :) Ruined surprised, huh?? Here's a few that I made over the weekend.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
LEGO Party Time!!
We had Brayden's 6th birthday party-LEGO Style! We had a great time! Since I had been pinning for this for a while and spent a lot of random summer days working on various items, this party was the easiest yet!! There was a lot of detail involved in some areas, but spacing it all out was a life saver and made the day enjoyable for the big birthday boy and not stressful for me at all!! Here's some of the pics from the party. Many ideas came from Pinterest and are on my LEGO Board. Some of the ideas we changed up a bit to suit a 6 year olds party since many of them were geared for the 9 year old range.
This cake was made by a local lady-she does such awesome work!! She actually used a LEGO board for the plate and the little LEGO man is actually an ink pen. The head comes off and it is a pen! So cool and awesome that she personalized it for him-she got the board and the pen from ToysRUs. She also made these Chocolate covered Marshmallow LEGO heads and painted the LEGO faces on them. Just FYI- the post we found on Pinterest said to use the food markers. She bought and tried them and said they didn't work well at all. So she used regular black food coloring and a paint brush and painted them on.
We used some of our LEGOS around the house and made a holder for our forks. We wrapped some LEGO colored polka dot paper around containers and put a LEGO man face on the front. Other containers we wrapped just a simple yellow ribbon around them. Our snack table had long Laffy Taffy's and Pixi Stixs, twizzlers and gum drops, chocolate top covered marshmallows, chocolate LEGO bricks (bought a mold off Amazon for like $2.50), and then we made marshmallow and orange slice skewers. We wrapped the paper around our water bottles also. Some we kept out on the table so they would be room temperature. Others we added to our ice chest along with some Cokes and Dr. Peppers. Our ice chest is a simple blue tub from Walmart. We added a yellow LEGO man onto the front that was cut out using my Cricut and their websites new Craft Room-we just made the LEGO shape based out of simple rectangles, squares, etc...they were awesome. These tubs make great toy holders outside on the back porch once parties are over. :)
Our table layout was regular table cloths down and then we created a LEGO inspired table runner for the tables using bubble wrap from the Dollar Tree and spray painting it different LEGO bright colors. I found that spraying both sides of the wrap gave it a much brighter color than just spraying one side. We also printed out LEGO figures onto cardstock and had them scattered along the table with some crayons. That was something they could do while they waited for others to attend the party. We also printed out the LEGO generic figure-that was the first activity for kids-they all created their own character however they wanted. We also printed out masks of different LEGO faces-this is all found on their website. We hot glued a stick to the masks and we cut out holes for the eyes. It was way too much trouble to tie nylon around the masks, especially since we had different age ranges of kids with different size heads to try to fit for.
We had kids sign up when they arrived to guess how many LEGOs were in the jar. The closest winner got the whole jar! There was around 250 LEGOS in that one jar! Many those things are small :)
Our project and favor table were my favorite! I bought a $5 package of 6 sizes of buckets with lids in the kitchen section at Walmart and spray painted the buckets. I then cut circles out of Dollar Tree felt with my cricut and used then on top of the buckets to look like LEGOs. The buckets had our different projects underneath them. As we did each activity, we would lift the lid off the bucket and you could see what was coming! Our first activity was making your own minifigure. We had legs and tops in one bowl, heads and hats in another, and then accessories in another. The kids picked one of each from the bowls and put them together. Pictured is the birthday boy with his minifigure. When the kids made theirs we put them in their goody bags so they wouldn't lose them. The goody bags were just assorted backs from Hobby Lobby with the circles cut out and adhered to them as mentioned above. Each goody bag had a LEGO book, LEGO stickers from Hobby Lobby, and then their party stuff. We used the Sharpies to write their names on the circles on their bags once we put their minifigures in them. The kids also had a bag of various LEGO pieces on the table and they each took one of the bags with them.
Their next project was creating their own LEGO car. Under one of the buckets on the party favor table was LEGO racers and so the parents had to be put to work. LOL Actually the parents had positive comments and really liked being involved-they said parties are usually boring cause they just have to stand around. They were all busy putting LEGOs together. The girls all had LEGO Friends and the boys had the Racers.
Afterwards, we realized that the back part of the cars had a spot where a minifigure could stand, so it worked perfectly that they had just made a minifigure-so the kids took off racing!!
The community center is where we rent to have the parties-def nowhere near glamorous, we just hope for clean lol, but it is a great location for parties and don't have to worry about the house company ready-which makes for a day all for the birthday boy. We hung these LEGO men up on the wall, but if I had to redo it, I would give these to the kids to create their minifigures and then I would have hung them up on the wall and used it as decorations of their art work. Oh well, it still turned out just fine!!
.
It was a super party and we had a great time!!
This cake was made by a local lady-she does such awesome work!! She actually used a LEGO board for the plate and the little LEGO man is actually an ink pen. The head comes off and it is a pen! So cool and awesome that she personalized it for him-she got the board and the pen from ToysRUs. She also made these Chocolate covered Marshmallow LEGO heads and painted the LEGO faces on them. Just FYI- the post we found on Pinterest said to use the food markers. She bought and tried them and said they didn't work well at all. So she used regular black food coloring and a paint brush and painted them on.
We used some of our LEGOS around the house and made a holder for our forks. We wrapped some LEGO colored polka dot paper around containers and put a LEGO man face on the front. Other containers we wrapped just a simple yellow ribbon around them. Our snack table had long Laffy Taffy's and Pixi Stixs, twizzlers and gum drops, chocolate top covered marshmallows, chocolate LEGO bricks (bought a mold off Amazon for like $2.50), and then we made marshmallow and orange slice skewers. We wrapped the paper around our water bottles also. Some we kept out on the table so they would be room temperature. Others we added to our ice chest along with some Cokes and Dr. Peppers. Our ice chest is a simple blue tub from Walmart. We added a yellow LEGO man onto the front that was cut out using my Cricut and their websites new Craft Room-we just made the LEGO shape based out of simple rectangles, squares, etc...they were awesome. These tubs make great toy holders outside on the back porch once parties are over. :)
Our table layout was regular table cloths down and then we created a LEGO inspired table runner for the tables using bubble wrap from the Dollar Tree and spray painting it different LEGO bright colors. I found that spraying both sides of the wrap gave it a much brighter color than just spraying one side. We also printed out LEGO figures onto cardstock and had them scattered along the table with some crayons. That was something they could do while they waited for others to attend the party. We also printed out the LEGO generic figure-that was the first activity for kids-they all created their own character however they wanted. We also printed out masks of different LEGO faces-this is all found on their website. We hot glued a stick to the masks and we cut out holes for the eyes. It was way too much trouble to tie nylon around the masks, especially since we had different age ranges of kids with different size heads to try to fit for.
We had kids sign up when they arrived to guess how many LEGOs were in the jar. The closest winner got the whole jar! There was around 250 LEGOS in that one jar! Many those things are small :)
Our project and favor table were my favorite! I bought a $5 package of 6 sizes of buckets with lids in the kitchen section at Walmart and spray painted the buckets. I then cut circles out of Dollar Tree felt with my cricut and used then on top of the buckets to look like LEGOs. The buckets had our different projects underneath them. As we did each activity, we would lift the lid off the bucket and you could see what was coming! Our first activity was making your own minifigure. We had legs and tops in one bowl, heads and hats in another, and then accessories in another. The kids picked one of each from the bowls and put them together. Pictured is the birthday boy with his minifigure. When the kids made theirs we put them in their goody bags so they wouldn't lose them. The goody bags were just assorted backs from Hobby Lobby with the circles cut out and adhered to them as mentioned above. Each goody bag had a LEGO book, LEGO stickers from Hobby Lobby, and then their party stuff. We used the Sharpies to write their names on the circles on their bags once we put their minifigures in them. The kids also had a bag of various LEGO pieces on the table and they each took one of the bags with them.
Their next project was creating their own LEGO car. Under one of the buckets on the party favor table was LEGO racers and so the parents had to be put to work. LOL Actually the parents had positive comments and really liked being involved-they said parties are usually boring cause they just have to stand around. They were all busy putting LEGOs together. The girls all had LEGO Friends and the boys had the Racers.
Afterwards, we realized that the back part of the cars had a spot where a minifigure could stand, so it worked perfectly that they had just made a minifigure-so the kids took off racing!!
The community center is where we rent to have the parties-def nowhere near glamorous, we just hope for clean lol, but it is a great location for parties and don't have to worry about the house company ready-which makes for a day all for the birthday boy. We hung these LEGO men up on the wall, but if I had to redo it, I would give these to the kids to create their minifigures and then I would have hung them up on the wall and used it as decorations of their art work. Oh well, it still turned out just fine!!
.It was a super party and we had a great time!!
So I saw this link on a random blog and had to check it out---I have already gone through 2 pencil sharpeners since school started and my co-teacher has gone through 4!! That's just crazy!! So, I have known for quite a while that I wanted to try something outside of the school purchased ones....and now...I have found the one to try. They are currently sold out, but I am going to keep an eye on them so that as soon as they come back in stock-I will be getting one for my little 4th graders!! 
This can be found here!! After I get mine in and have it thoroughly used by the kids (which with my students means 2 days max!!) I will be sure to let you know how it works!!
This can be found here!! After I get mine in and have it thoroughly used by the kids (which with my students means 2 days max!!) I will be sure to let you know how it works!!
Thursday, July 5, 2012
If you give a Mom a Piggy Bank...
I was out shopping at Michael's the other day with one of my friends and they had the CUTEST Razorback Piggy Bank (WooPigSooiee!).
Of course-had to have it :) Their coupon that week was a 50% off coupon, so we got it-10 Bucks-Whoop Whoop! then once I got it, I had to do some thinking to justify the purchase. I have 2 boys, and they already have a piggy bank, so....what am I going to do with this one?? I can't just have decor-it has to be useful!! LOL After talking to my mom and my friend, we decided that it would be a joint piggy bank for the boys to use to save up for something that they BOTH wanted.
They loved this Hawg bank and decided to save up for one of the nice wooden playground sets. Their goal is to have enough saved up by next summer. So, the wheels start rolling again...how can they save up that much money?? Chore Chart!!! Hmmmm...how to do it?? Pinterest!! Which leads us to the craft of the day :)
They loved this Hawg bank and decided to save up for one of the nice wooden playground sets. Their goal is to have enough saved up by next summer. So, the wheels start rolling again...how can they save up that much money?? Chore Chart!!! Hmmmm...how to do it?? Pinterest!! Which leads us to the craft of the day :)
I found several different chore charts on Pinterest that I liked and then I started trying to figure out how to incorporate what I already have to do it. I went to the Dollar Tree and picked up a cookie sheet to use. I wanted to cover it with fabric like listed on pinterest, but I really didn't think my magnets would go through the material well enough to hold up. I also had a 'lip' on the cookie sheet and I knew it wouldn't have a smooth fabric covering and I didn't want any extra bunching, so I just opted out of the fabric.
I started by searching sites to see what was acceptable for an almost 6 year old and a 2 year old boy to do. It was the 2 year old that I was really concerned about how to find things for. Here is what I came up with:
2 year old:
Picking up Toys in his Room
Picking up Toys through the House
Make Bed
Brush Teeth ( they hate to brush their teeth, so maybe this would provide some incentive)
Clean Table (use a wipe to clean off the boys kid table in the living room)
Clear Table (take dirty plate to sink/food in trash)
Picking Toys up Outside
6 year old:
Picking up Toys in his Room
Picking up Toys through the House
Make Bed
Brush Teeth
Clear Table
Picking up Toys Outside
Take out the Trash
Swiffer ( I saw this on several sites and wondered-seriously?? Swiffereing??? But, hey lets try it-on the swiffer you can take links out of the handle and shorten it-it is just his size!!!! And he LOVES IT!!! He hounds me to hurry and sweep so he can Swiffer!! Who would have thought???)
I had these small round glass circles that I used to use when making paper/glass necklaces. I bought them from Dollar Tree-there's like 20 circles in a pack. I printed off the chores on the computer and used my paper punch to cut out the circles. I used some Ailene's Clear Crafty Glue and put it on the glass, then placed the paper chore face down so that it shows through the glass. I let this dry 24 hours. It will trick you-it will feel firm and dry, but after experience, leave it alone for 24 hours!! Patience!!
Once it dried, I added a round self adhesive magnet to the back of each chore so it would stick to the cookie sheet. I used my Cricut to cut out some vinyl letters so the boys would each have their own 'side' on the chart.
I decided to put the chart on the fridge so the boys could reach it to move their magnets. I added 6 magnets to the back but it wasn't enough to hold it up. I went ahead and added 3 long magnetic strips to the back to hold it up-A No Go! So, I glued ribbon onto the back so that it could be hung with a clip on the fridge and the magnets together-Still NO SUCH LUCK!!! So, I just put it on the wall on a nail (what a waste of all those magnets!!GGRRR) My oldest is still able to use the stool to move his chores.
We have only had it going for 3 days now, but our house is cleaner (toy wise lol) and our kids complain less when doing their chores because they know they get the money and get to put them in their bank-which they LOVE doing!
You can see now how my head works SOOO much like Laura Numeroff's book If you give a Mouse a Cookie...cause this all started with just a little Razorback piggy bank :)
Friday, June 22, 2012
It's a Pinterest kind a Summer!!
I saw this post on Pinterest and like everyone else, I thought-Looks great, but bet it doesn't work. It's basically an easy way to clean your tub without all the hard work. To do thorough research, I decided to divulge a little more time in Pinterest (it's a tough job, but...) I ended up finding several several different posts, which although all the pics were different, they all said the same thing and ended up with the same results.
After serious contemplation, OK, so maybe it was 30 give or take seconds, I decided why not try it??!?!? The post I saw was here. I went to the store, bought my $1.77 Blue colored Dawn dish-washing liquid, my $1.27 large spray bottle, and I already had vinegar at the house. You just mix equal parts of each item in the spray bottle. The lady in the post made it using 1 cup of each and talked about how much she had left over and that it wasn't necessary to use that much. I thought...lady, you haven't seen my tub. So, I used the 1 cup mixture and planned it would have to be more-the lady knew what she was talking about. I have WAY more left over. I think you could use this with 1/2 cup each and still have plenty left over.
So, here's what I did. I mixed the parts together and went and sprayed my tub down-I only put it in one spot of my tub just to be sure it wouldn't harm it. I told my husband not to take a shower until I gave him the OK. He thought I was weird-he is developing an eye roll look that is going to become known as his "sigh...my wife is talking about Pinterest again" look. The lady mentioned waiting overnight, but that she was too impatient and came back in a couple of hours. I literally forgot about it til I walked by a couple hours later and thought "Ew-why does the bathroom smell like vinegar?? Oh! Pinterest! Where's a washcloth??" :) You can just read my EXCITEMENT, can't you?!?!
Took a rag to it and it REALLY DID come just straight off!! I quickly took pics cause NOBODY was going to believe this! I sprayed down the rest of the tub and then thought-"Dang! I have to wait like 2 hours to clean my tub" :( - You never thought you'd hear that from me, right??
Got ready to wipe it down the last time and had my husband come in there so I could show him how easy it was-it took a total of 5 minutes-he said WoW!! Let me try that...hhhmmm...food for thought...Pinterest makes my husband WANT to do housework, too??? I think further Pinterest research is a must :) He went to town on it and said, I don't think its been that clean in over a year...sad thing is...he's probably right! We clean what I think is pretty regularly for 2 working parents with 2 busy schedules and 2 busy boys, but it doesn't get that clean-probably cause I lack the muscles for some good "elbow grease". So...point is...I am yet ANOTHER person who loudly claims that this Pinterest post truly works!!!
After serious contemplation, OK, so maybe it was 30 give or take seconds, I decided why not try it??!?!? The post I saw was here. I went to the store, bought my $1.77 Blue colored Dawn dish-washing liquid, my $1.27 large spray bottle, and I already had vinegar at the house. You just mix equal parts of each item in the spray bottle. The lady in the post made it using 1 cup of each and talked about how much she had left over and that it wasn't necessary to use that much. I thought...lady, you haven't seen my tub. So, I used the 1 cup mixture and planned it would have to be more-the lady knew what she was talking about. I have WAY more left over. I think you could use this with 1/2 cup each and still have plenty left over.
So, here's what I did. I mixed the parts together and went and sprayed my tub down-I only put it in one spot of my tub just to be sure it wouldn't harm it. I told my husband not to take a shower until I gave him the OK. He thought I was weird-he is developing an eye roll look that is going to become known as his "sigh...my wife is talking about Pinterest again" look. The lady mentioned waiting overnight, but that she was too impatient and came back in a couple of hours. I literally forgot about it til I walked by a couple hours later and thought "Ew-why does the bathroom smell like vinegar?? Oh! Pinterest! Where's a washcloth??" :) You can just read my EXCITEMENT, can't you?!?!
Took a rag to it and it REALLY DID come just straight off!! I quickly took pics cause NOBODY was going to believe this! I sprayed down the rest of the tub and then thought-"Dang! I have to wait like 2 hours to clean my tub" :( - You never thought you'd hear that from me, right??
Got ready to wipe it down the last time and had my husband come in there so I could show him how easy it was-it took a total of 5 minutes-he said WoW!! Let me try that...hhhmmm...food for thought...Pinterest makes my husband WANT to do housework, too??? I think further Pinterest research is a must :) He went to town on it and said, I don't think its been that clean in over a year...sad thing is...he's probably right! We clean what I think is pretty regularly for 2 working parents with 2 busy schedules and 2 busy boys, but it doesn't get that clean-probably cause I lack the muscles for some good "elbow grease". So...point is...I am yet ANOTHER person who loudly claims that this Pinterest post truly works!!!
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
DIY Foaming Handwashing Soap
So after my trip to Walmart, I realized that I remembered the body wash, but forgot the hand soap.Grrr...seeing as how a trip to the store is a 20+ min drive, I was not thrilled. Not to mention that it is getting a little old using Scooby Doo soap (crazy to want adult soap over Scooby Doo, I know!) I couldn't help wondering how to remedy the situation-um...heller????? Pinterest???!!!
After just a few minutes research, I realized that most of the posts were almost exactly alike. It is super difficult to do, so be prepared for a time consuming project (dripping with sarcasm). You need 3 ingredients-gasp! Did she just say 3????? Wow-what ease :)
1) Soap of your choice-liquid soap, handwash, body wash, shampoo, etc.
2) water (hmmm...that'll be a toughie to find)
3) An empty foaming soap dispenser (No point in making this if it is full, am I right?) I used mine that I previously "crafty-fied" here.
I made mine with my precious remembered body wash-Softsoap Coconut Body Scrub. I did see where it said that soaps with the gel/crystal beads could clog up your pump, so that might not be a route you want to take.
Add anywhere from 1/2 inch to 1 inch of soap to the bottom of your dispenser. Slowly fill the dispenser up with lukewarm water. Attach lid-Viola! I told you that was hard-whew! May want to print those instructions out :) If you pour the water in too quickly, it will foam up and make putting the lid on difficult without pouring some out-don't want to waste any!
Mine worked wonderfully-I was super proud and super excited that my remembered body wash helped me make a free batch of my forgotten hand soap-can I get a 'Whoop!Whoop!' I did notice that after it set up for a couple of days, it would take a couple of pumps before I got the handful of foam that I like-easy fix-I just swirl it before I pump. Two swirls and it pumps my handful-I will gladly use the extra effort to swirl in exchange for free soap :)
After just a few minutes research, I realized that most of the posts were almost exactly alike. It is super difficult to do, so be prepared for a time consuming project (dripping with sarcasm). You need 3 ingredients-gasp! Did she just say 3????? Wow-what ease :)
1) Soap of your choice-liquid soap, handwash, body wash, shampoo, etc.
2) water (hmmm...that'll be a toughie to find)
3) An empty foaming soap dispenser (No point in making this if it is full, am I right?) I used mine that I previously "crafty-fied" here.
I made mine with my precious remembered body wash-Softsoap Coconut Body Scrub. I did see where it said that soaps with the gel/crystal beads could clog up your pump, so that might not be a route you want to take.
Add anywhere from 1/2 inch to 1 inch of soap to the bottom of your dispenser. Slowly fill the dispenser up with lukewarm water. Attach lid-Viola! I told you that was hard-whew! May want to print those instructions out :) If you pour the water in too quickly, it will foam up and make putting the lid on difficult without pouring some out-don't want to waste any!
Mine worked wonderfully-I was super proud and super excited that my remembered body wash helped me make a free batch of my forgotten hand soap-can I get a 'Whoop!Whoop!' I did notice that after it set up for a couple of days, it would take a couple of pumps before I got the handful of foam that I like-easy fix-I just swirl it before I pump. Two swirls and it pumps my handful-I will gladly use the extra effort to swirl in exchange for free soap :)
Friday, June 1, 2012
Beach Wedding Shower
One of my sweetest and most generous friends is getting married this weekend-you know what that means-Wedding Shower Time! And of course, we all turn to Pinterest for ideas :) I work with the most amazing people and we couldn't have pulled it off without each other. It turned out to be an EXCELLENT shower!! Here are some pics-all the recipes came from Pinterest and most of the decorations came from Dollar Tree (my GoTo shopping place :) It was just a laid back shower with a bunch of fun loving ladies...of course, the school year was almost out when we had it, so we were even more fun loving than normal LOL
Congrats to Tish and Carlos!!
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