Thursday, May 31, 2012

A Crafty Soiree #92

Hey Everyone!  You all linked up a ton of great ideas, I love how no matter what kind of craft you like to do...there is always something for everyone at our soiree!  This week I've got teacher's gifts...cause the end of the year is right around the corner, everlasting flowers, and DIY to feature...what's not to love? 
Angie at Burton Avenue made this sweet little sign for a teacher using vinyl and some extra wood.  She even shares the file for the message so if you've got an electronic cutter...go snag it and and get a cuttin'!
April at Gingerbread Handmade, used to be a kindergarten teacher...just like me ☺ so she knows a thing or two about good end of the year teacher gifts.  Her Movie Night box is perfect!
Heather at The Sewing Loft has a clever green craft that turns your child's outgrown clothes into beatutiful blooms!
Speaking of everlasting blooms, check out the flower girl crown at Ashley's Dandelion Wishes.
I am in love with this rug from Decorate With a Little Bit.  It's been given a upscale custom look with the addition of a border.  Fantastic!

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Party Guidelines
1.  Link up to four of your creative projects (No Etsy stores or other linky parties pretty please).  
2.  Add your link to the specific posts not the main URL.
3.  Add a "Crafty Soiree" button to your blog or posts.
4.  Please comment on the post linked up in front of you.  All partygoers love meeting new friends... don't just stop there...if you see something that catches your fancy-- stop by and say hi!
5.  Your hostesses would love it if you'd follow us. You can find Malia here.

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Let's Party!


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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Easy Entertaining: Hot Dog Bar

My friend Margaret and I decided to get the families together for Memorial Day and while doing some planning she found a really fabulous Memorial Day Summer BBQ party complete with printables.  Unfortunately, the printables were archived and no longer free.
I contemplated recreating printables based on the designs at Hostess {with the Mostess} until I found another awesome party on the site.  The Colorful Summer Grilling Party was perfect!   The party theme began with this cute covered grill welcome sign.  I used one of the grills meant for table settings and a piece of the paper patterns to make the sign, along with some glittery foam stickers and ribbon both from the dollar section at Target.
To keep things easy, we went with the Hot Dog Bar idea from the original party, which was a little better suited for patriotic gatherings.  I happen to prefer this newer set, so I wasn't too upset I couldn't download the other printables.  Plus the Colorful Summer Grilling Party is great for all summer long!  I could see reusing this theme over and over and not just for hot dogs.

Menu:

Beef and Turkey Hot Dogs
White and Whole Wheat Hot Dog Buns
Hot Dog Toppings Bar
Spinach Salad with Fresh Fruit and Goat Cheese
Red, White, & Blue Fruit Cups
Fritos

Here are some more ways I incorporated the free printables into the dinner we hosted at our home on Monday.
Wrapped Water and Straw Signs: Wouldn't the lable with the little citrus slice also look super cute on lemonade bottles?
Red, White and Blue Fruit Cups - Blueberries for the Adults and Blue Jello for the Kids
Hot Dog Toppings Bar and Recipes

If I do this again, I'd use some Command Picture Hanging Hooks to lower the signs closer to the table.  I just used the hooks I already had in the wall and don't like how big the gap is between display and table.
Here is a closer look at the recipes board.  I recreated the recipe cards from the Memorial Day Summer BBQ to match our theme and attached to pieces of the Paper Patterns.  Then I wrapped the canvas we usually have hanging in the space with wrapping paper and added some more letters and stars from the same package of alphabet stickers I used for the welcome sign.
The Grilled Hot Dog Sign was popped into an inexpensive frame from Target.
Table Signs: Used on the Toppings Bar and as a Centerpiece on the Kid's Table, both in Tolsby frames from Ikea.  I love these frames and use them all the time!
Our colorful meal complete with napkin rings and plastic baskets also from, you guessed it...the dollar section at Target.  Those were a lucky find by Margaret, a couple days before the dinner.  (And yep, that napkin ring is upside down...that's what happens when you assemble everything in a hurry!)
You can get all the printables I used at The Hostess {with the Mostess}  Thank you to talented team at that site for sharing their ideas, talents, and printables so we could throw such a colorful party!


I'll be back on Friday, after A Crafty Soiree tomorrow, to share Part 2 of our dinner party...here's a hint it continues our theme of building your dish but in a sweet way!

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Sharing At: CraftionaryTatertots & Jello, Be Different Act Normal,

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Project Life Week 20

Mother's Day kicked off Week 20 and takes up the first half of my spread.  Here is the entire week, minus the insert that I customized for holding a couple of Mother's Day cards.  More on that later :)
We had both sides of the family over on Sunday for a barbeque and family pictures took up all of this side. The title card is Doodlebug Design Inc with some foam thickers from American Crafts.  Love card is one of Bazzil Basic's Avalon Lickety Slip Journaling Cards.
The rest of the week is on the otherside.  There's a picture of my sorority sister Jill from dinner on Tuesday, ER home sick :( with the stomach flu, and LB fast asleep in his high chair after eating.  I saw Jill again on Friday for crop night at Archiver's but didnt' bring my camera, since I had too much other stuff to lug over there.  The name tag happened to fit perfectly into one of the journaling slots.  In the last space I put pictures of my sticker and paper neatly organized.  Now it's so much easier to find what I need!
Here is the week with the insert added.  It holds the cards I got from both of my guys, Brad and LB.  Brad didn't take ER to buy a card for me, because she made one at school and wanted to draw lots of pictures for me instead.  She gave it to me the day before, so it's part of last week's Project Life spread.
To make a space to keep the cards I put in the one from Brad and then stitched across to hold it in place.  Then I measured the card from LB and eye balled how much extra space I had left.  I used a paper scrap and chipboard letters to make a title to fit that fit the space, inserted, and then stitched it in place.  Then I just added the second card on top.  This type of page protector happens to have a little flap you can fold over at the top to help secure the contents within.
Before slipping in the cards, I cut them in half and used sticky tape to attach them backside to backside.  Now you can see the front and inside message without removing.  Cutting them in half helps them lay better.
Even though I shouldn't need to take out the cards again, because you can read them inside of the insert, I used my paper trimmer to cut open the side.  Now you can pull them in and out.  I tend to be a card horder, so it's great to have some place to put them for safe keeping and I love that Project Life helps me hold on to them along with the photos for the event. 

Linking Up with The Mom Creative.

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Thursday, May 24, 2012

A Crafty Soiree #91

My features are all over the place this week, lots of projects caught my eye!  You are all so amazing!  It's so much fun going around and visiting you.
School's almost out, have you thought about how you'll thank your child's teacher for a great year?  Love the fun pencil covered vase idea from Thrifty Crafty Girl!
There are finger puppets and then there are finger puppets!!!  Dona's Five Little Monkey's set at Sewing Miles of Smiles even come with their own little tree to tease Mr. Croccodile in!
Heather Leopard's Girly Frame is a lovely way to showcase all that yummy paper goodness in your stash, she's even got a video in her post.
Hoot Design's take on a Mason Jar Planter is one of my favorite garden projects, just so cool!
I think most blog readers are printable crazy, here's a sweet summer one with a vintage free from Printabella.
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Party Guidelines
1.  Link up to four of your creative projects (No Etsy stores or other linky parties pretty please).  
2.  Add your link to the specific posts not the main URL.
3.  Add a "Crafty Soiree" button to your blog or posts.
4.  Please comment on the post linked up in front of you.  All partygoers love meeting new friends... don't just stop there...if you see something that catches your fancy-- stop by and say hi!
5.  Your hostesses would love it if you'd follow us. You can find Malia here.
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Let's Party!


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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Project Life Week 19

It's been one of those weeks.  I had my spread completed, photographed, and ready to blog.  Then last minute I decided to rework and reorganize 75% of it.  Why oh why must I complicate things for myself?  Anyway, I am much happier with it now.  It must have been worth it.
Left Side:

Super fun and delightful title card using one of my favorite new papers from Doodlebug, my all time favorite scrapbook company.  You can see the reverse side of it in last week's PL, it's the yellow floral.  The little purple text box came from a cut apart sheet.  Even the sweet little alpha is by them...all picked up on a recent splurge at Archivers...I ♥ Archivers :)

What I love about Project Life as opposed to a 365 photo album is how you fill up your pockets by the week, skipping a day or two if you want.  That is the real reason PL is soooo working for me this year.  Most of this half is taken up with Sunday and some sweet pictures of a lazy day around the house. 
LB's 9 month well baby appointment was on Tuesday and I fully intended to take a picture of him with the doctor.  I even packed my camera, it's just the memory card I forgot.  Oops.  I like recording his growth stats in PL so a bit of journaling on a Simple Stories card, stamping, and punched stars - one for each month, make up for the lack of photo.

Speaking of missing photos, the empty spot is for a picture of the iron on tote bags we worked on that week.  I didn't have time to run up and get the photos I developed before blogging this.  I'll have to add it in a day or two.  In the meantime, you can see the bags in this post.
Inserts:

Part 1 of Mother's Day was on Saturday, lunch out and some fun just the four of us.  ER wanted to give me the card she made at school and gifts and not wait until the next day when the Grandmas were over.  Which worked for me, or we'd have had way too many inserts.  I like how they're broken up into two weeks.

The "card" was on a giant piece of folded construction paper.  Luckily for me, for once ER went easy on the glue stick.  I was able to peel each piece off the base and put them into inserts.  It was so sweet reading how each kindergartner finished the sentence Mothers....mine said, "Cuddle with me in bed," awe ♥ {Shown in top photo}

Inside she finished a graphic organizer with all the things her Mommy does.  Her pictures are labeled... putting me to bed, watering the garden, empties the dishwasher, and crafts with me.  I agree with most of them, but had a laugh over the watering...watering?!  Ah, I think that should be forgets to water the garden, there's a reason why every summer the plants all end up shriveled up and brown!

The last part of the card is a picture of me, can't you tell?  See the black hair?  Totally me ☺  Wonder what's up with my feet?  Maybe she's remembering how swollen they were last summer when I was big and still pregnant, LOL!
Behind that is a fish picture from art class she is extremely proud of.  It was specifically drawn for a school fund raiser for which you could order your picture printed onto various things.  She was so excited she kept telling me about it for weeks before the forms actually came home.  We got her an overpriced magnet and key chain, both worth it to see her face light up when they came.  I also ordered a tile trivet.  I collect them from the various places we've lived at.  I didn't have one from MI yet and told her it will always remind me how we lived in MI when she entered school.  I have to say, I do love seeing it over my stove. 

If you're still with me, the last insert is of some more drawings of fish with mermaids and stars.  It took her a long time to figure out how to make stars and now that she finally has, they are everywhere!  In a burst of genius, I got the idea to use some Ariel rub-ons directly on the page protector.  Worked great and ER loves it, since she drew Ariel and her daughter Melody on the other side of the paper.  I used some Martha Stewart labels cut down to fit over less important parts of the picture, to add my thoughts on top of the protector too. 
Right Side:

Quite photo heavy, I was probably feeling some guilt for missing the photo op at the doctor's office and carried it everywhere for the rest of the week.  We had Daisies, which I planned and wanted to make sure I documented.  Then LB started "real" finger foods, at doctor's suggestion we began with bananas and cheese.  He seemed to like them but had a hard time picking up the smaller bits.  Thursday we watched a neighbor before school.  The kids played so nicely and must have worked up an appetite.  ER ate TWO hot dogs for lunch!!!  That was a shock to me, normally I'm forcing food down her throat so she's not starving all afternoon.
The entire bottom half of the page is devoted to my Mother's Day outing...hey it's my PL and if I want to, I'm gonna ☺  Love that picture with my little nuggets ♥  So cool to see the same nose on all three faces.  If you don't know, I'm adopted.  Until I had my own kiddos I had never seen bits and pieces of my own features reflected in anyone else.  It makes my heart so happy to see glimpses of myself in them.  The other photos are all of our meal at PF Changs.  I'm a creature of habit.  I usually end up getting the exact same meal each time we go, it was worth of commemorating.  It's a delicious meal every time.

Linking up at The Mom Creative.

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Friday, May 18, 2012

Sew Fierce's Ruffled Peasant Dress, Love It!

My friend Steph over at Sew Fierce has done it again, made the perfect dress!   We got this in the mail and ER squealed with delight.  She had to put it on immediately and wear it the rest of the day, mind you...it was NOT dress weather at all.  But that's how excited she was.
After the sun decided to come on back to MI we headed outside to snap a few pictures so everyone could see how super cute it is.  It's an A-line and has a lovely clean classic silhouette with a funky ruffle to add some personality!  I love how the ruffles flitter a bit in the breeze. 
Steph's got another one listed, in different fabric but equally fabulous :)  So hurry on over and pick it up before it's gone!
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