Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Upcycled Baby Food Jars to Tealight Holders

These are some of my Valentines decorations:
The vase is from the dollar spot at Target, and the silk flower is from Michaels. The jars are old baby food jars with fabric scraps mod podged around them. 

Don't you just love the fun pop of color?

My anniversary is two weeks after Valentines Day, so I like to leave up all my love decor until then. I will still be posting pink stuff for a bit. Deal with it! ;)

I love how the candles glow through the pretty fabrics!

Here's how to make these:

1.Measure your jar...any jar will work
2.Cut your fabric to size. I used pinking shears to keep my fabric from fraying.
3. Paint mod podge around the outside of the jar.
4. Place fabric on the jar, smoothing out any bubbles.
5. Paint a layer of mod podge over the fabric to seal it.

Grab a tealight and enjoy the sweet glow.

My favorite thing about these is that they are equally cute with or without a candle burning and are a great way to display tiny scraps of your favorite fabrics.

I am linking up to some of these lovely blogs.
Give them some L.O.V.E!
Visit thecsiproject.com

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Photo Valentines

These are the Valentines that Brooklyn gave out to her classmates on Friday:


Did I mention that I did this whole thing on Thursday after school? Yep. I am a procrastinator to the core. For weeks I have been seeing everyone's Valentines and kept thinking "Oh that's so far away" and then Thursday I went "Oh CRAP! The party is tomorrow!!!"

I jumped into frantic freak mom mode and thankfully we got 'em done. Whew!

Here's what we did:

First we had a little photo shoot outside, where we literally ran around the yard finding the best light. We were running because the boy was left to his own devices inside the house and I was terrified of what mischief I would walk into if we were outside too long.

The heart stick is from the Dollar Tree and was snagged out of a vase on our way out the door to use as a prop. 

Then we went through the photos and Brooklyn told me which ones were her favorite. It didn't matter though because I chose my favorite.
I'm the mom, so I win.

Then using Photoshop Elements I added a digital paper from Summertime Designs 14 Days of Valentine's Kit and added the text. The only editing I did to the photo itself was lighten it up a bit as the prints usually come out darker than they appear on my computer screen(figured that one out the hard way for last years Valentines).

It is by no means professional looking as my Photoshop design skills are severely lacking, but it's still cute. Right? ;)

I had them printed at Costco and picked them up an hour later for just a few dollars!

I got home and put Brooklyn to work stuffing a photo and a sucker into baggies to hand out to friends and teachers while I made the treat for her class party.

Everyone at school thinks that I have it all together...boy do I have them fooled!
 
I am linking up with some of these lovely blogs:)
Go check them out and leave them some L.O.V.E.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Oh YUM! Valentines Treat

Tomorrow is Brooklyn's class Valentine party and I wanted to send something for her to share with the class other than cupcakes. Last year 4 parents sent in cupcakes for the Valentines Party, so each kid got 4 cupcakes. Yep, 4.

I will not add to the insanity!!!

I came across a Valentine Confetti recipe posted by This Blessed Nest. It looked so pretty and sounded so yummy, but my favorite part is that it is not a cupcake! 
No offense to the cupcake moms;)

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I air popped my popcorn instead of using microwave popcorn because that’s what I had. I love getting to use my adorable little air popper…it just makes me so happy!

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  I still had some of these left over from making Peppermint Bark. Oh yeah!! I melted these in the microwave and then mixed it in with the popcorn.

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I poured it out onto waxed paper, took red and pink sprinkles and went a little crazy;)
To help the mixture set up I put the tray in the freezer for a few minutes.

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I broke it into smaller pieces and filled a sandwich bag for each of the students. Then I had Brooklyn add a scoop of Valentine M&M’s to each bag…She loved getting to help.

Jon and Brooklyn couldn’t keep their hands off of it,
so I am pretty sure it will be a hit tomorrow.

Linking up with these awesome blogs:)

Friday, February 04, 2011

Clothespin Apron and a Rice Bag

My mom read my blog and e-mailed me, telling me that she would love one of these for her birthday:


 When a mama gives you such a direct hint, you cannot under any circumstance ignore it! It is so hard for me to shop for her that I was thrilled to have a gift for her that I knew she was going to love. Cheating? So what!

I had some trouble with the pattern directions when I made mine, so I changed a few things on this one. I used the pattern pieces from the book One Yard Wonders, but instead of following their directions I just sewed it together using bias tape. I think this one looks so much better!

My mom loves roses and this fabric reminded me of her:) So pretty!

I had some left over fabric so I decided to make my mom a neck heating bag.

Every mom should have one of these! Seriously:)

Her birthday was the day after Christmas,
but I just realized that I never posted these.

Happy Birthday Mom! ;)


I am linking up with these fun parties.

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Homemade Playdough

Homemade Playdough Recipe:

2 Cups of flour
1 Cup of salt
4 tsp Cream of Tartar
2 Cups water
3 Tbs oil
Food Coloring

Put all the dry ingredients in a pot, add the wet ingredients and stir continuously over low/medium heat until dough forms into a ball. 

When it is no longer sticky to the touch it is done!

Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Travis decided that the playdough needed to be liberated from the bowl.

I love the texture of homemade playdough...it is so much better than commercial playdough in my opinion. I'm kind of a diva that way;)

I love his little tongue out as he concentrates.

{Playdough Love}

I am linking up  with some of these awesome blog parties.

The most important thing she’d learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one."
~Jill Churchill