Mustache Birthday Party!!

 

My son recently turned four.  He wanted a Transformers party, but I wanted a mustache party.

So we compromised...he got Transformers for his family party and mustaches for his school party.

He wanted a pinata.  I found a yellow car that was suitable to be Bumblebee, for $5 on sale at Kmart.  But the only mustache one I could find was $30 plus shipping.

Yikes!

That's a lot for something you're going to smash to bits!

So I made one.

In fact I made all the party decor.  Super fast and really cheap.

 

 

In fact, the only thing I bought was the bags and plates and napkins.

(Because as of now I can't figure out how to make a napkin or a paper plate!  lol)

I did buy the mustache cut-outs from a seller on etsy. They shipped super-fast and were very reasonable.

 

 

The centerpiece is an aluminum can wrapped with a strip of paper bag that I glued the cut-out onto.  I stuck a half of a mug sized flower foam inside and glued more cut-outs to skinny dowels.  Skinny strips of paper bag crumbled up covered the foam.

 

 

The banner is paper bags cut into triangles & mustache cutouts glued to a thick black ribbon.  The goody bags are lunch sacks stamped with mustaches.  They sell a small mustache foam stamp at Hobby Lobby for about a buck fifty.

 

 

 

 

The cake was purchased from a local bakery, Trefzgers.  They make great cake!

 

I don't have any close-ups of the pinata, but I tell you it was time consuming to make, but with having all the supplies on hand except the streamers, it was cheap and so worth it.  I used cereal boxes and masking tape and glue.  And about 5 hours total. :)

 

See how cute they are at the photo booth?

 

Happy Birthday Max!!

He's the one in the pink shirt!  Just like his Mama.  :)

I Mustache you a Question

I don't know what the new craze is all about...

Mustaches.

I have no idea why tween girls (my daughter) and the blogosphere in general are totally and completely obsessed with them.

I do agree that the "not live" version is kinds cute and sweet in all it's plastic and tiny, not hairy, glory.

But in real life...yuck.

I mean it...yuck.

However, she still wants little mustaches to decorate herself and her crew.  So, instead of spending my hard earned cash on the plethora of mustache themed stuff, I decided to make my own.

I made

earrings

t shirts

skirts
necklaces
bracelets

you name it

I made it.

I really think the skirt turned out wonderful...now I just need her to model it for you.

The t shirts were by far my favorite!

I used a large fabric stamp that I got at Hobby Lobby and black acrylic paint that I mixed with fabric medium to make it permanent.  They turned out better than I even imagined.  My daughter loves them.  She wants every color.  :)

Then she wanted me to make her some earrings.  I got these lovely beads on etsy.  They came in tons of colors and were so reasonably priced.  She gets every color and there are lots of extras!!

There is actually a bright blue that I forgot to photograph!  These are such fun in brights and neons.  And they are plastic so very lightweight and easy to wear.

Neon pink is my favorite!!

I got her this super sweet mustache on etsy too!  It is made with resin and sprinkles.  She totally loves it!!!

(though I still have no idea why)

 

Thanks for reading!!

:D



Movin On Up...to a de-luxe iphone in the sky-y-y...

Well, I did it. I finally took the plunge...I got a smart phone.

And not just any smart phone, I got an iPhone.

Ack! An apple product. I've been anti apple for...ever awhile now.

Surprise! I love it. Really. Love. It.

My iPhone...I even like the way that sounds.

The best part?

It was free.

Yep, you read that right f r e e.

I hoarded waited to use my upgrade until the exact right time. Good thing too, because my darling daughter lost her phone while on vacation. In Tennessee.

She got my old one, I got a new one! Yay!

My favorite new apps you ask??

Snapchat

Instagram

FB(of course)

Twitter(I'm a loser, I know)

It's just awesome to be able to have all this stuff with me at all times. All the time! And I LOVE IT!!!

I love to Instagram pics of my kids. They are so cute.

See!

 

*Sigh*  I just love my new phone and wanted to share...

 

Thanks for reading!

:D



DIY Personalized Wedding/Family/Kid Gift

 

 

 

I have given up Facebook.  It is a very hard thing to do.

Very. Hard.

I deactivated my account last night.

Why? Do you ask?

Because it causes so much drama...

So. Much. Drama.

And I usually hate drama.

So I have had to find new stuff to do....lots of Pinterest, and Amazon and this new page called Tagxedo.

I made some really cool word clouds today.

You put any words you want to use and you can pick the shape and the colors and save it as a JPEG file.

I made one for every family I know.  It would be a cool wedding present too.  You could do the Brides name and the Grooms and their last name.  The date maybe too?

Here is the family one I made.

 

Here's the wedding gift for my brother and his new wife. I hope they like it.

Here is one that I made for some friends of mine...I already cropped this one.

These would also make great kids gifts.  Here are the ones I made for my kids.

My baby boy's star. This one is un-cropped.

 

 

My sweet girl and darling daughter's heart.

 

There are just so many different cool ways to do these, I spent hours today making some as gifts for all of my friends and neighbors.  I figured out how to make them into really cool wall art at Wal-Mart Photo Center!  I'm going to take a minute and tell you how.

1. Go to Windows Photo Gallery and crop it to an 8x10.  I did this so I could crop off the border and the words.  I think it looks better this way.

2.  Upload the cropped pic to walmart.com photo center.

3.  Choose Wall Art, then Mounted Photo.

4.  Choose horizontal 8x10 and choose the word cloud of your choice.

5. Order it and you're done.

Super easy and only around $12.  There is a coupon on their website right now that allows you to get $5 off an 8x10 mounted photo, so that makes it about $8.  The very best part?  It is done in about 4 hours.  Perfect for a last minute gift. 

 

Take that FB!  I can still spend hours on the computer without you.

Thanks for reading!  :)



 

DIY Bridal Shower Invite

My little brother is getting married.

My mom, sis-in-law and I are giving her a local shower.

(Her family lives 3 hours away)

I decided on a small little intimate coffee shop venue.

The room we got is so cute(and perfect), it makes me want to move in. The snacks are so yummy and the coffee is de-lish! It's a locally owned business too, so it's a win-win.

The bride loves yellow and lilies are her favorite flower. This made the invitations a no-brainer for me. Pic-Monkey to the rescue. Go here to see how I did that. (PS: It's super easy.)
I also made all the decor and cloth napkins.
Everything turned out beautiful and I was happy to do it.
Here's some pics from the shower.
I made the runner and got all the plates an silverware from the thrift shop.  It was the perfect shabby chic theme.

 

You can see the prizes for the games in the background there.

I used white sacks and yellow ribbon.

Fresh yellow lilies on the tables...

 

I love the Dr. Seuss quote...so appropriate for a bridal shower.

 

 

 

 

My favorite thing?  The small chalkboard I decorated and used chalk ink on.  That stuff is amazing!

 Thanks for reading!
:D


Upcycled Postcards

 My friend Laura came over the other day and gave me the greatest idea.  (Actually it was her kid, but shh, don't tell her)

She was making postcards out of old cardboard food boxes!

I thought it was brilliant!

So, of course, I had to make some too.

Think of all the old things you can make into these.

Record albums, toy packaging, game boxes! Endless!!

I'm going to send them to camp with my kid

(pre-addressed and stamped too)

that way she can easily send off letters to everyone she loves(and knows).

They are very easy as well.  As long as it is a minium of 3.5x5 and as think as an index card, it can be mailed as a postcard.

Mine are 4x6, just to make the measurement easier.

I used another postcard that I had on hand to trace.

 

 See the backs?  I was at Hobby Lobby and I found this!

It couldn't have been more perfect...and the best part??  It was 40% off this week!  Super!

 

I just love how they turned out!

So bright and colorful!

Make someone's day when they open the mailbox!!

 

Thanks for reading!!

DIY Gumball Party Invite

My darling daughter is about to turn 11.  Oh my where has the time gone??  She is still my sweet girl, but is growing up so fast I don't even know what to do.

Do you know what she wants for her birthday?

A pedicure...and a haircut.

Yikes!  I definitely have a tween on my hands.

She's getting a bike too, but it's a surprise, so shhhh...don't tell.

I did a whole lot of research on birthday invites and let me tell you, they are costly.  She is having a gumball party, complete with DIY gumball necklace favors.  So sweet!

I ended up figuring out how to make some really sweet invites myself.  So instead of paying $10 for someone else's work, then the cost of printing them...I only payed around $3.75 for everything!

It was so simple too!

I simply found a picture that I liked(online or whatever you want) and I edited it in Pic Monkey!

Voila!

Super simple, and I love love love the way they look!

I even made ones with different times for the family cook-out.

The very best part???

They can be mailed with no envelopes, just like a postcard.

Very cheap thrifty of me.

Now that I know what I'm doing, all invites are to be done this way!!

(PS- that is my real number, but if you call I probably won't answer)

 

:D

 



Chevron Bow Wristlet/Clutch

Don't you just love chevron?  Me too.

This bag was a cinch to make too.

It was a birthday gift for a dear old friend and I must say, it was the hit of the party.  :)

Go me!!

In hindsight I wish I'd have taken more pics of it because the inside is soooo cute(navy leaves with yellow roses).

I got the oh so simple tute here at Elm Street Life....she's amazing.

Now I just have to decide on what color I want.

Thanks for reading!

:D

Shabby Monogram Crossbody Bag

I made this super cute bag using my tutorial for the Little Girl Patchy Bag.  I wanted to make it personal for my sons little school friend, so I added a big "J" to the front.  It was super easy.

All I did was free hand cut out the letter and sew it on after I stitched the patches together.  I left the edges raw so it would fray and add character.

Max thinks it is super!  And he told me that she will really like it.  We hit up the good ole Dollar Tree and Dollar Spot at Target for some small goodies to put inside too.

The party is at Monkey Joe's and it's all good, because I really like that place.

Thanks for reading!

:D

Favorite City Charm Necklace

 

 

My best friend and her daughter used to live in Chicago.

Not a suburb, but really in Chicago.

In a really beautiful high-rise apartment, on the top floor, with a super great view of downtown.

I LOVED to visit them.

Alas...time moves on, and now they live back in our town.

Don't misunderstand, we love having them back, but her daughter really misses Chicago.

So I thought I'd make her this necklace as a way to remember that she could wear.

It was really easy too.

I got to use the drill(I love power tools too).

Luckily my hubs had just got himself some new drill bits and there was a teeny tiny one that was perfect for this project!!

First of all, I had saved a small map of Chicago that I got on our last trip up there.  (It was from our hotel and it was free!)

I got my Modge Podge and scissors, large jump rings and a pre-made red ball chain.

That is it!

Shh, I made the Loop Subway/El one for my daughter, she just doesn't know it yet.

Don't they look super great???

 

 

The heart one is special, because I put the heart right on the corner of where they lived the first time we visited.

Right on the corner of Clark and Fullerton.

(Lucky for me the free map had both of those streets on it)

Anyway, I used the Modge Podge to affix the maps to the hearts, and then I shellacked a layer over the top to make it really sturdy.

I really hope she likes it.

Oh yeah, we are going up there on Monday for Spring Break!!

It's going to be a ball.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading!!

:D

Easy Bunny Hoop Decor aka Frank

 

 

This is almost the easiest thing I have ever made, and soooo cheap.  Perfect for a lazy crafter like me.

(Not that you are too, but I can be sometimes.)

Anyway, I came up with this idea because the cost is so low.

About $3 total.

I had the fabric and the pompom for the tail.

All I really had to buy was the hoop, and for that I used a 50% off coupon from Joann's.  It came to about $0.75.

I made the bunny template myself on a copier at work(I don't suggest this if your employers keep track of that stuff, but luckily mine don't.)  I found an online pic that I liked and enlarged it until it was the size I wanted.

 

First thing I did, was decide on the fabric I wanted to use.  I actually just bought this a week or so ago, and it was on sale, so double score!

I knew this was the perfect spring colors to decorate with.

Next, I traced the bunny I cut out onto the wrong side of the fabric with some fabric ink(it disappears in 24 hours)

 

Then I cut him out(let's call him Francois, I like french bunnies)

Next I tried my best to center Francois(Frank for short) on the fabric square I cut out and pin him on.

 

 

I sewed him on, but the cool part is that you could glue him on too!

Modge Podge or fabric glue, or hot glue or even Elmer's glue(the dry time is longer for some of them though.

 

 

I left his edges loose so he can fray over time and look very "shabby chic".

After I centered him in the hoop and got it all tight all the way around, I trimmed the excess and tightened the hoop as tight as I could without breaking it.

Then I hot glued on a fluffy pompom tail.

He turned out so cute I just can't stand it.

And Voila!!!(see, french)

Bunny aka Frank.

 

Thanks for reading!

:D

Fabric Easter Eggs

 

 

I found this product inspiration on Pinterest.  If you don't follow me on Pinterest, you should.  I have been pinning stuff like crazy for a long time.  And it's good stuff, not just junk.  But I digress...

I went to the site for these and there was no tutorial, so I thought I'd wing it and if they ended up cute, I would share them with you.

 

Step 1

Cut out 2 egg shapes, one a tad bigger than the other.

I like to use recycled cereal and food boxes b/c it makes a sturdier pattern.  :)

 

Step 2

Cut out(using the smaller egg) lots of colorful fabric eggs.

Scraps work great for this!

 

Step 3

Cut out( using the bigger egg) enough white fabric eggs for the backs.

I used batting type fabric b/c it is what I had on hand.

Fleece or felt would work too.  I liked the crisp white too, it looks more egg-y(is that even a word?).

 

 Step 4

Layer the front and the back and sew almost all the way around the egg.  Leaving a space to insert the dowel rod.

Like so.

 

I think they turned out so very pretty.  I tossed some Easter grass in a hurricane and tied it up with a pretty bow!  All set for Easter.  This is the perfect centerpiece for my dining room table.

 

 

Hurricane glasses are good for all kinds of uses.  I use mine for almost every holiday.  Candy corn for Halloween, ornaments for Christmas.  I used beads here for St Patrick's Day, and you could also put eggs in it for Easter.  Just so versatile...Lemons and apples are good for summer, etc, etc, etc.  You get my drift.  :)

 

 

Thanks for reading!!

:)