J's 5th Birthday: PIRATES!

J turned 5 this month (*sob*). We had a big old pirate party, and it was amazing. The kids all had a great time and, most importantly, J was absolutely thrilled with the decorations and things. So here we go!

Pirate hats - Acquired with eye patches, swords, and mustaches (as desired) by arriving guests.

The treasure chest: Goodie bags (a.k.a. treasure) was put in the chest, which was made of a divided cardboard box and duct tape. The tissue paper was taped over the bags, red "X" marks the spot! This worked great until J got impatient during the plunder and ripped off the whole sheet...oh well. The kids had to do a treasure hunt and find the treasure chest (with the help of First Mate Daddy). 

Treasure bags - sewn from black fabric and stamped using poster paint

Booty!

The "Pirate Pirate" - This ship (complete with two cannons) served as plaything, pirate gear storage (swords, etc), and gift receptacle. The white thing is one of the clues from the treasure hunt!

The Jolly Roger (which may or may not still be hanging up, on J's request)

"To Prevent Scurvy"

Pirate Booty, Cuties oranges, Grog (root beer), cannonballs (chocolate cake balls), and there were Goldfish crackers that I hadn't put in that blue bowl yet when I took the picture.

The treasure map cake, made by yours truly

Guest Post: DIY Cozy Coupe into a Minnie Coupe

I want to thank my friend Brea Peters for this fantastic tutorial! She made this awesome Minnie Coupe for her sweet daughter, who happens to be the same age as Dee. Brea can be found on Etsy (where she makes some seriously awesome tees and bows) with her shop SASSIEnSWEETboutique. Check it out!

DIY: Cozy Coupe into a Minnie Coupe

1. Disassemble the car (take off the roof, pull out the steering wheel.
2. Sand everything down. You need to do this so the paint sticks better.
3. Tape off the wheels (I used plastic sacks and taped them).  
4. Spray the body pink and the top black ( I used Krylon Spray paint).
5. When the pink is dry paint the polka dots ( I used a bowl for the "stencil" and white latex paint). 
6. Put it all back together.
7. This step my DH did. He cut two circles with flat bottoms out of wood, painted them black and attached them with screws from underneath the roof (they are super secure and won't come off).
8. Attach a bow :). I made my bow from pieces of hot pink and white polka dot fabric that comes in pre-cut pieces ( at Hobby Lobby in the same aisle as the bandanas and pre-cut felt pieces) I literally just made it into a bow and hot glued it to the wood :).
9. I personalized it a bit by adding DD's name to the license plate area and then painted Minnie Coupe on the front. 
10. Stand back and say "damn I'm good!!" :)

Thanks for the inquiries about the ear size, I'm waiting to hear back from Brea about it!

October 14, 2012 - OOOh, spooky!

October 10, 2012 - Creative Repurposing of a Baby Hat

We had a Broncos hat that never really fit any actual babies, so I turned it into an outfit for J's smallest baby (which he decided was a boy and had been wearing the pink sleeper gown it came with). J was thrilled this morning when I gave it to him.

September 17, 2012 - Ghost Feet!

Thanks, Pinterest, for this idea!

I covered a shoebox lid with black fabric (that I already had), used a fabric leaf painted white to stamp out the tree pattern, and painted the kids' feet with white poster paint. The moon was done with white poster paint and a foam brush.

Total cost? $3 (including the orange ribbon around the outside)

September 16, 2012 - Leaf Wreath

I made this with silk/fabric leaves purchased on clearance last fall, a paper wreath (made myself from salvaged packing materials and twine), some ribbon I already had, and my trusty hot glue gun. Total cost? $2. Booya! J picked which leaf I glued as I went, so that contributed to the awesome randomness that happened. *Love it!*

Halloween!

I'm trying to get through to next week, when I'm home with the kids all week and can craft to my hearts content (I may be in denial about that one...). Here are the costumes I made for the kids last year.

This year, J is going to be Spiderman and L is going to be a dinosaur. I will post pictures this year (promise!).

I made pillows!

I made the purple and the green pillows for our new couch. :-)

They were the pillows from our old couch, and I recovered them using scrap fabric and an old t-shirt. 

Springtime Cookies

I made these cookies for my baby brother's recital tonight. J corrected me and told me it was his "recycle" but he still enjoyed a cookie!

Unfortunately the tie-dye ones aren't showing up really well, but there's one on the top edge.

Baby Girl's First Birthday Party

 L's birthday went through a number of possible themes, but I ended up settling on Spring and pink. I'm really pleased with how it all came out!

My pink ombre swirl cake! So tasty!

Inside the cake...it's trickier to color cake batter than it seems.

She was more than a little skeptical about the cake!

I am so proud of how her tutu came out. It was even more adorable in person!

February 2, 2012

I realized I never shared this picture. I made this for C's brother for his birthday in November. I think it came out *awesome* and he really liked it.

January 15, 2012

I made these robot cookies for J's daycare birthday party. They were a hit!

366 Days, 366 Pictures

I am going to try to post one picture each day this year. Since it's leap year, that means 366 pictures! Yay! Maybe it will also help my photography skills...That would be nice. Though there may be a limit to how much they can improve with my point-and-shoot camera (not fancy at all). Since I didn't post one yesterday, here's the first of two you'll get today.

I made this for my sister-in-law for Christmas. I even made the button, because I've got mad skills, yo. And BIL works at Left Hand.

 

My Sick-Day Project: Snap Conversions on Cloth Diapers

As you know, we cloth diaper. We are using the same diapers (with some additions) for L as we did with J, and some of them have aplix that is, at this point, beyond useless. Last week I picked up snaps and a snap press from Joann Fabrics (which now has a cloth diaper section, SQUEE!!). While I'm home sick from work, I might as well take care of those diapers! I'm using Fred's tutorial, found here. She is a clever one!

Note to self:
Make these.

http://floralshowers.com/sewing/ruffle-pillow-tutorial/

Fall Cookies!

I made these cookies this weekend, partly because I wanted to (ok, mostly because I wanted to, since I got some awesome new fall cookie cutters at Target in the cheapo bins. $2.50 for 6 cookie cutters? Yes please!) and partly because we had a family birthday party today, and I knew that everyone would like some cookies.

I am very proud of these. I am especially loving the owls, they were so much fun to make!. Also, they are SUPER yummy and super chocolatey.

The recipe for the cookies can be found at LilaLoa's blog, it's the End-All for Chocolate Cookies.The dough is almost satiny, it's probably my favorite cookie dough that I've ever used to make cutouts.

Optimism

I didn't forget my meds this morning. I have book club tonight. I am going to be spending tomorrow cleaning my parents' house for some money. On Sunday I am making some stuff for our Etsy shop and hanging out with my family, and maybe having some people over. L still slept like crap last night (thanks to sinus congestion + teething).

Nothing major has changed, but I feel so much better today. Thank science for Zoloft, mood stabilizer extraordinaire.

Wordless Wednesday: Cutest Ancestor Ever