Valentine

I know the date has past, but I still wanted to share with you the fun Valentines we gave out this year!! The kids and I had so much fun coming up with ideas and making these, best part??? They were SuPeR simple!! For Jake's we did these:

They were perfect and only cost me $2, for the glow bracelets. Jake even helped cut them out! Since he LOVES Star Wars they were perfect!! (Want to use these?? Well you can get your own from here!)
Here are Emmah's:

These have to be one of my most favorite ones we have done!! Emmah helped to design the tag and then stuff the bags!  (The original idea came from here)
I then decided that we needed some for the kids at daycare...there are some school aged as well as younger ones too. So of course I went a searching and found these on Pinterest!

Be sure to check them out...there are 4 different varieties, I only used 2.

Holiday Rush

I don't know about any of you but the holiday hustle and bustle is in full swing at our house. We have already attended one Christmas party, we have another one this coming weekend and then 2 the following weekend.   In between there we are working hard to finish the playroom, craft room, have carpet installed, finish up our shopping, and for me...making gifts!!   I love to give people small tokens to let them know just how special they are to me, especially at this time of year! I also really enjoying adding some fun new crafts that have been on my "to do" list to my "done" list!!   Currently on my to make list is: *Initial cup *People blocks *Matching shirts (for my neices!) *Cookies *Ornaments with the kids *Holiday tags *Hot Chocolate mix/chocolate dipped spoons *Popcorn Seasoning Kit *Holiday shirt for kids   I think that is it for right now...but I'm sure I will think of many more things that I should make!!

 

And I finally got around to ordering my holiday cards, so at least that part of things is done! YEAH!

Sneaky Elf

With Christmas comes one of my favorite Holiday traditions...Chip our Elf!! He usually shows up sometime after Thanksgiving and then gets into all sorts of different adventures.   **If you haven't heard of Elf on a Shelf...you need to check it out, it really is A LOT of fun and the kids just LOVE it!!    Here is his arrival....I think he arrived in style!

 

Day 2:

 

Day 3:

 

 

 Day 6:

 

Day 7:

The kids are really loving all the adventures "Chip" is having this year!! I am too!!

 

Thankful Memories

Thanksgiving is always a great time to gather with family. I have some seriously great Thanksgiving memories. Although I have a few that aren't so great, most of my memories just leave a HUGE smile on my face!   First of all for years we used to drive to Wisconson to spend Thanksgiving with my uncle and cousins. My mom and I would load our stuff and ourselves into the car and drive the 8 hour drive to my uncles only to stay up even later prepping for the Thanksgiving meal! (I can't remember how many times I stayed up breaking bread for the stuffing!) My mom and my uncle would do some of the other prepping, there was wine, Mountain Dew, and many laughs! Their favorite thing to make was the stuffing and they really had a knack for it!! Countless wooden spoons were broken...because you don't have the right consistency if you don't break a wooden spoon!! And A LOT and by a lot I mean A LOT of sage was used!! Everyone knows that if you don't need a drink after eating a bite...you NEED more SAGE!!   Its these types of memories that make the not so happy ones...fade to the backgroud. (My mom's last Thanksgiving was spent in the hospital...I brought her dinner, but who wants to eat a Thanksgiving meal there??)   I hope my kids have wonderful memories of spending time with cousins, playing/watching football, eating A LOT of food, and most of all of breaking a few wooden spoons and add just the right amount of SAGE!!   I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, I know I did!!

Halloween Treats

I am one of those people who LOVES to make fun and festive treats for my kids...and I think they enjoy bringing them to school too! (I mean they do ask, so they must like them right???)   Now on most occasions I make cake pops, since they are a favorite of my kids and their friends!! Most teachers think they are pretty tasty too!! But this year I decided to try something new!!   I got some melting chocolates, sucker sticks and cookies and got to work!!   Here is the end results:   An alien invasion cookie style...

 

And a bunch of ghostly ghouls:

  Enjoy the treats...there may be TRICKS tomorrow!

Family*Fireworks*Fun

As usual we spent the 4th spending time with family and friends celebrating the freedoms our country offers!

To start our day we headed to the Second Annual Patriotic Parade hosted by my friend Katie from A List Makers Life. We gather at a local boardwalk, decorate our bikes with festive holiday decorations, and pass out candy to anyone on the boardwalk and share some festive spirit. {This year we added some water...its been EXTREMELY warm in these parts!}

A good time was had by all!! It definitely was warm, but worth the heat to enjoy some fellowship with friends!

We headed to the pool after our parade to cool down...3 hours later, we were significantly cooled and ready for the rest of our day. We hung out, played and watched a movie.

To end our evening we headed to the fireworks.

 

Hope you and your family had a fantastic 4th!!

{LOVE}

Here's how we spread the love yesterday: 

These turned out really cute!!

This has got to be my most favorite Valentine!! I have some really fun outtakes to share with you later this week!! (Sorry I can't figure out how to turn it!)

I waited a whole year to make these!! I bought 90 mini candy canes so I was sure to have enough!

Fun Forest

Again my crafting bug has hit and I am in full holiday mode trying to make fun things!!  

I NEEDED...okay WANTED a few more things to add some decor around the house. Especially this year I am low on decor, since we are not home for the holidays I didn't drag out all my decorations. I have been wanting to make some kind of version of these since I have seen them everywhere on pinterest.

To get started gather your supplies.

You'll Need:

• Styrofoam tree (any size will work)
• Yarn
• Pom poms
• Hot Glue

I started with the yarn tree.

1. To begin I put some hot glue along the bottom of the shape and slowly wrapped the yarn around. This gives you a solid and straight bottom to work with. Also this ensures that you get all the way down to the bottom and don't see the styrofoam.
2. Next begin wrapping. I started not overlapping, but then decided I kinda liked the look of the overlapping. Make sure you're watching so you don't have an empty space....I learned this the hard way! Wrap till you have reached the top.
3. When at the top for the top inch or so I again used the glue. This made sure it stayed in place as well as covered the entire shape.

Now on to the pom pom tree. For some reason with this one I forgot to take pictures! But it goes like this:

1. Using hot glue run a line around the bottom of the tree...add the pom poms one by one. I used a 1" pom pom. I went in a pattern using the 1" and then adding some fun color in a 1/2"
2. Continue adding lines of glue all the way up the tree until it is fully covered.
3. I then glued this tree to a candle stick holder I had...I know I have another one somewhere so when I find it I will put the other one on one too!! I used the hot glue to attach it.

Here is my fun forest...I am thinking I might make a larger one next year to add to the top of my kitchen cabinets.

JOY

The holidays always suck me into full crafting mode and I find tons of fun and festive ideas that I just HAVE to try...well this year is no different other than Pinterest in NOT helping me, just encouraging me!

I have seen many variations of these yarn letters and just LOVE how they look, so I decided to put a holiday spin on some....

Here is what you'll need:

• colorful yarn
• paper mached letters

To start I began by wrapping the top edges of each letter...now I would LOVE to show you pictures, but well I forgot! Once you have the top edges wrapped I began to wrap horizontally around the remainder of the letter until it was fully covered. I'm not going to say this was easy, cause it wasn't...just keep trying an adjusting as you go.

Here are what my complete letters look like:

I am now thinking I might do some for everyday...just trying to decide what word to do, since some letters are more difficult then others!

Dry Off

Holiday craft craziness has hit again!! I have been looking for awhile for some fun holiday towels, but with very little success. I don't want to pay a fortune for towels, I mean you do use them to wipe your hands and dry dishes..So the other day while meandering through Target I saw these towels and thought just maybe I could make them into something special. So I grabbed them, when I got home I dug out some holiday ribbon and some extra large ric rac I had around and got to sewing!  

Now I have fun and festive towels!! There were super simple too!! I think it too me about 30 mins if that for both, and that was with being interupted!

The Chronicles of Chip

Have you heard of Elf on a Shelf? If not it is such a wonderful and fun holiday tradition we started a few years ago. Here is how it works, each elf comes with a story explaining the magic. Your child/children get to name the elf, which it half the fun! Ours is named Chip. Then each night Chip heads back to the North Pole to report to Santa how everyone behaved. Each morning when he returns he finds a new spot to sit...so you can imagine the fun in finding where Chip is every morning! Chip arrived at our house this morning with a special note:

I can't wait to see what crazy things this elf has planned for this year!!

(Don't worry I plan to keep you updated!)

Gettin Ready to Haunt

To keep my love of wreaths going I of course had to make a fun Halloween wreath!! So in my many searches on Pinterest I came across this beautiful wreath idea on Something To Do and decided to go for it and add some extra flavor!SuppliesEmbroidery Hoop (any size)Tulle (I chose 3 colors) 

Gather your hoop and tulle. Cut the tulle into strips. I have 3 colors, glitter orange, glitter black, and black. I cut them about 12" long. I cut the whole spool of glitters and just about 12 of the regular.

Then begin to loop around your hoop. I took each strand, folded it in half, then folded it again. (This does give you a looped end on the outer part of your wreath, but just cut it when done)

You can either loop it around or tie it. I looped. Continue the patter all the way around the hoop til your wreath is as full as you would like. Then I looped a longer piece around the hoop to hang it from.

There you have it...a perfectly spooky door!

The Fourth

This is the first year we really haven't had too much going on for the Fourth. Usually we head up north or have a get together with friends, but this year people were gone and it just didn't pan out.Well a super friend Katie from A List Maker's Life invited us to join in on some holiday fun, a Patriotic Parade on Wheels!! It was warm, but a lot of fun!The kids each chose their wheels and we headed down to Heinz boardwalk to spread some cheer!

Here's Emmah and Jake getting ready to decorate their wheels and to pass out some candy to any friends we meet along the way! (Each kid got to decorate their own bike, then get a back full of candy, keeping 3 for themselves, to hand out along the route!)

Here is our whole group of new and old friends!! This was a fun time and we can't wait to do it again next year! (We even grabs some deals today for decorations for next year!!)

Thanks again Katie!

Red, White & Blue

Okay I've turned into a real sucker for a fun wreath!! And Jen over at Tatertots and Jello really feeds my addiction! I just LOVE all the fun wreaths she comes up with and man oh man does she have a great one for this 4th of July! When I saw this wreath I just new I had to make it! I mean what could be more perfect??? I even gathered some of my mom friends to participate in a little mommy playdate...we've been tryin to get these together for awhile and finally we got together and made it happen!   Supplies:

• red hots                                                     
• wreath form                                               
• ribbon (festive 4th of July colors)                
• hot glue gun                                                
• Dimensional Magic (Or spray polyurethane)
• coordinating                                               

1. We then began to assemble our wreaths. We started by wrapping our wreaths in red ribbon. (The wider the better, takes less time!)
2. Then we glued our red hots on the wreath form starting with the top and then working our way around the side, middle and back.
3. Next coat the wreath with your Dimensional Magic or polyurethane. If you brush on either, only do it once or the color may come off the red hots (One used a spray, and it worked the best, I highly reccomend this option)As the wreath dries you can get to work on your rocket, or stars. I went with stars only because I need something flat on my door, limited width.
4. Finally, take your two coordinating ribbons and loop them through the middle of the wreath. Hot glue them together in the back. Then stand back and admire your work!

 

And here is the final product, I LOVE how it turned out and am just feeding my wreath fetish. How many is too many wreaths????