Diaper Babies and Baby Food Cake to Welcome a New Addition

My sister recently had her fourth baby, a beautiful boy. My daughters wanted to make their gifts for her baby shower, so they both went on Pinterest, did their research, made out shopping lists and voila!!

 

We'll start with the oldest's gift first.

Baby food cake

 

 

She used cardboard cake rounds to build her three tiers. After a few tries of rearranging the jars, she secured everything in place and added the ribbon.  The stickers went on last along with her frog friend.  I think she had a great first try and my sister loved it, and definitely loved having the jars on hand for when the little one was ready for his first taste of food.  

 

Next up,

 

Diaper Babies

 

Diaper Baby Basket

 

This is the third diaper baby basket that my eight year old has made.  She found this idea herself on Pinterest (she has her own account :)).  They were a big hit and so easy to make!

 

She rolled out size 1 diapers (you can do this with the newborn or size 2 in case someone else at the shower is making a diaper cake).  She then secured them with a clear hair elastic that we purchased from Walmart.  The hats (socks from my sister's registry at Target) were separated from their pairs and each one was put on the top of the rolled diaper and then she pushed in the remainder of the sock inside the top portion.  She drew little eyes (some closed some open, you could also use googly eyes), we used a thin sharpie.  For the blanket (washcloths that were purchased from my sister's registry), she folded them into a triangle and wrapped it in a swaddle, like you would a newborn.  We bought the basket at  the dollar tree and used baby scrapbooking stickers that I had leftover to decorate the inside.  We used spare diapers on the bottom of the basket to give the babies some height (my daughter called it their mattress). :)

 

My sister loved her gifts and the fact that the girls made them their selves. And I thought it was pretty cool that they chose unique, creative gifts, that will get a lot of use.  Oh, and I also liked that they spent time letting their creative juices flow instead of being in front of the computer, on the phone or in front of the tv.  ;)

 

 

 

 

 

Red Sox Spring? Training

We're big Red Sox fans in our house and they've been in beautiful Fort Meyers for Spring Training, so I thought I'd jump start Spring a little early and make a wreath for our World Series Champs.  We need a little spring here!! I think this has been the first day in about six or seven, that it hasn't snowed.  It's suppose to be fifty here tomorrow, I think we'll need galoshes, does anybody wear those anymore?  Anyway onto the wreath.

I used a 14" Styrofoam wreath and covered it with strips of white cotton fabric.  The strips are about 1.5" wide.  I used a dot of hot glue to secure the first strip to the side of the wreath that was to be the back.  I used common pins to secure each of the strips to the back as I went, but you could use fabric glue as well or a dot of hot glue.  Once I was done wrapping the fabric, the letters were glued on and my socks, precut the ribbon and attached it with hot glue to the back.

Go Sox!!!

Perfect snowy day snack - Snowman Snack Mix

I was recently snack mom for my daughter's Brownie Troop.  I wasn't sure what to make to please all thirteen girls, so I looked on Pinterest and found the cutest snack called Snowman Snack mix.  It's supposed to be the pieces of a melted snowman.  The blog that I found it on was nice enough to have template to print off.  Her troop leader said that everyone loved it!  Thank you Pinterest!

 

 

The card reads:

 

It's cold outside so in this pack

is a special mixed-up Snowman Snack!

Look very closely and you many spy

little snowballs, chocolate hats and eyes.

There's a little nose and pretzel arms

and a tasty scarf to give him some charm.

Have fun looking, then you know what to do...

gobble up this snack made especially for you!

 I made enough to make three snowmen in each bag.

9 mini marshmallows (body)
3 junior mints (head)
6 Pretzel sticks (arms)
21 mini chocolate chips (2 each for the eyes, 5 each for the mouth)
3 orange tic tacs
3 red twizzlers (you need to buy the kind that pulls apart)

My Proud Peacock Wreath

I saw this peacock during the Christmas season at Michaels and got it on clearance.  It spoke to me.  I loved the colors and I found the yarn a few aisles over (on sale!!)  and I had the ribbon.  The colors matched perfectly, I didn't think they would go together, being three different items with a similar shad of turquoise, but it worked!  I was a happy girl! Oh and I had a coupon for the wreath, so I was a super happy girl!

 

I started with a 12" foam wreath, used fabric spray to glue one end to the side that was going to be my back. I then began to wrap my soft fluffy yarn tightly around the wreath. It took about 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours.  Once I finished wrapping, I secured the end to the back with a dot of hot glue.  The bow was glued on first and then my proud peacock went right on top.  For the hanger in the back a pipe cleaner was cut in half, wrapped in the yarn and formed into a circle.  Twist the ends and glue it to the back!  

 

 

Nautical Shower Favor

My sister had her fourth baby recently and she had a nautical themed baby shower.  These were the prizes for the games that were given out., but could also be used as a bridal/baby shower favor. 

 

I found the clip art online for free, sized it down in Micro Soft Word and printed.  I then cut it out with the smaller of my two circle punches and cut out the red paper with the larger.  I used a handheld hole punch to put the hole at the top of the anchor.  For the rope, I cut out the desired length and then put a little hot glue at each end so that it wouldn't fray and unravel.  Once I tied the knot, I put one more small dot of hot glue at the knot, because I noticed that they were loosening.  That did the trick.

 

The ladies enjoyed their prizes at the shower.

 

  

Masquerade Mask

I hope everyone is getting through this long winter.  I just realized that Mardi Gras was coming up and thought I'd share the Mask I made for my daughter's Semi Formal.  Her dress was a pale blue color and she wanted a little bling, so here's what I came up with.  She looked wonderful and had a great time at her eighth grade semi.

I cut the strings off the back of the paper mache mask and brushed a light coat of modge podge.  I covered it with the decorative paper I had purchased and poked a hole with a pencil where the eyes were.  Then the paper was pushed back to form the eyes and glued to the back.  I just kept smoothing and cutting until I was happy with how it looked.  You might need a second sheet of paper for the back.  I then glued on the strand of rhinestones around the outside. A light coat of modge podge was put all over the front and back. Just a note, and I learned this the hard way, depending on the sheen of your paper or if it has glittered on it, the modge podge will dull the paper.  You'll still have the shine, but the sparkle disappears.  Continuing on, the stick is a skewer that was spray painted in a light gray and then sprayed with a light coat of glitter spray.  When you glue the stick make sure the pointed end is glued to the mask.  It accented her dress very nicely and she has a keepsake from her eighth grade semi formal.

 

 

 

I was also on the decorating committee for her semi formal and was in charge of displaying the masks for the students to take when they walked in. The color scheme was gold, black, white and green.  Most of the masks (below) came from Oriental Trading.

 

 

Cake dummies were used for the centerpieces and decorative paper was modge podged around the sides.

 

 

The tops were painted lightly first with modge podge and then with the desired color of paint. 

 

 

Then the glitter which was applied while the paint was wet.

 

 

The accessories were glued on last.

 

 

Valentines Day Corsage

It's been a while since I've posted, but I wanted to share the corsage I made for my nine year old daughter.  She and her dad went to a Father Daughter Valentines Day Dance on Sunday, and of course we couldn't have her go to a dance without a corsage.

I think I found the last bunch of roses at Michaels.  After trimming down the stems, I wrapped them in floral tape and then the red ribbon.  It's hard to tell in the picture, but the edges of the roses are glittered in red.  The corsage was very easy to use.  After turning it inside out, I hot glued my flowers and then the white bow and the red on top of that.

The corsage went perfectly with her red party dress.  She was so excited to go on her date with dad and they had a great time. I think my husband had more fun than she did, I heard the DJ played some old school rap :).

Advent Themed Wreath

I bought this purple velvet fabric from Jo-Ann Fabrics a few years ago for my daughter's Willy Wonka party for the tablecloth.  I have used it for so many things, but since I started making wreaths, I decided to cut it up and use it for one.  The color seemed nice to use for Advent, with a lavender bow.

Frosty the Snowman Wreath

I saw this pure white, soft, baby blanket yarn at AC Moore and thought what a great Snowman wreath it would make.  So this is my take on Frosty.

Boston Strong

I was watching the Boston Marathon on television when they broke in with the news about the explosions.  My heart sank, what now.  And then as hours went on, I couldn't believe what I was seeing on tv.  I had been down on Boylston street more times then I could count and had grew up going down to the city.  We moved from the area four years ago, but miss it and love when we take drives into town.  The next day, I was driving the kids down to Maryland to see my sister and later on that week my husband called me in the early morning hours of Friday morning to tell me about what was going on in Watertown and Newton.  My old stomping grounds, I grew up in Newton and our favorite mall was the Arsenal Mall in Watertown, which I saw on the news with swat teams  and police cars blocking off the road and keeping the media out of harms way.  I lived in four out of the five cities/towns that were shut down that day and I was so sad to see the fear that was put into our cities and state, but so proud of the way the people of Massachusetts and the country stood by its victims.

I

Thanksgiving Turkey Wreath

A couple of weeks ago my older daughter and I went to the Midnight Madness sale at AC Moore and I found fabric squares that I thought would be a great background for a Thanksgiving Turkey Wreath. 

 
I used a Styrofoam wreath covered in fabric strips and then free cut the feathers, glued them with hot glue and kept layering.  For is face, I traced a bowl onto stiff felt and for his eyes I traced large googly eyes and a dime onto black and white felt.

Once I got started, I couldn't stop with his feathers, I just kept layering.  I think it was about 1:00 a.m. when I stopped.  My older daughter helped me with his beak and the little ones had their input as well (good and bad).  It was a family affair.

Fall Wreath Giveaway!

It's been a few days (plus some) that I've posted.  The holidays sure do come upon us quick! And in the spirit of giving and thanks (the Hallmark Christmas movies are rubbing off on me!!)  I wanted to give away a wreath for Thanksgiving!  So if you post on my blog from today (11/10) until   Sunday 11/21 I will choose a name at random and will send you the wreath below! It is a 16", oval grapevine wreath with Fall ribbon and flowers. I'd love to hear from you, so please post away!

Marine Corps Wreath

My dad served 21 years in the Marine Corps and did two tours Vietnam.  He likes when we wish him a happy birthday on November 10th (Marine Corps Birthday).  This year I made him a birthday gift.

Halloween Crafts

Yesterday was a busy a day of running around and craftiness.  It started with an updated version of the snack I did last year for school which was the Halloween Trail Mix.

 

 

I lined a cookie tray with black tissue paper and sprinkled Halloween confetti on it.  In  a large bowl I mixed regular cheerios, raisins and candy corn.  I purchased cute candy corn cupcake liners and used a ladle to fill them. 

 

After running around to different classroom parties, I came home to finish up a couple of more projects.  The mummy cup was next.  I saw this on Pinterest and thought would be super cute for my nephew. 

  

He's two and a half so I purchased him a cup with a straw from Walmart and filled it with about 4 packages of the Motts fruit snacks (that's all that would fit).  The cup was wrapped in a gauze self stick material also bought at Walmart.  One package would do fine, but you will get  little more coverage and it will be a bit thicker if you do two.  I had the googly eyes and drew on the mouth.  He loved it! 

 

My final project was for my kids and one that I had been eager to do for a while.  When I was looking for something to give my daughter for her cheerleading competition, I found these candy bouquets on Pinterest.  So I did a Halloween version with the help of directions from the Miss Kopy Kat blog  http://misskopykat.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-make-soda-can-candy-bouquet.html.  She gives you step by step directions that are very easy to follow.  I did a couple of things different like I split toothpicks in two and used that to put my starburst in the foam.  I also used lollipop sticks I had from another project to add height to a few of the candy pieces as well as to add the smarties.  The cupcake picks and liners from trail mix were used to add some spookiness.

  

 

 My kids were so surprised. 

 

 

Everything moderation, right? On to November!

More Spookiness for Halloween

So my kids said I needed to make a Halloween wreath for our house instead of doing one for everyone else's.  I squeezed this in before it was too late.

I had actually made the bow a few weeks ago and was dying to use it but didn't have anything to put it on.  I found this super cute fabric at Joann Fabrics, got some Halloween trinkets from AC Moore, and the kids got their wreath.

Putting my glittered acorns to use

Last Fall my kids and I spent a Sunday afternoon glittering acorns after saw it on Pinterest.  My background gets covered with them so we decided to add them to our Fall decorating inside. I had some left over and wanted to add a little glitz to a wreath I was making for the Fall.  I was also practicing my bow technique as well.

A grapevine wreath from Michael's (purchased with a coupon of course) was decorated with glittered acorns that were hot glued as well as a big old bow from ribbon I got on sale (again from Michael's).   :)

Harry the Monster

I saw this idea on Pinterest last fall and loved it! So cute and easy and FREE!  I didn't have to run and purchase anything because we had everything on hand!  My five year old son couldn't wait to put "Harry" up in the house.

Two paper plates were used for the eyes and black circles were cut out of black construction paper for the pupils.  The eyebrows were also cut from the black paper and for the mouth we used five strips of red paper.  Everything was secured to the wall with double sided tape! :)

Halloween Wreath

This Wreath made for a hostess gift for my sister-in-law who had a Halloween party yesterday. My eight year old picked out the fabric from Jo-Ann Fabrics where I used my 50% off coupon! :)

A foam wreath from Michael's (I had a 40% coupon for that!) was covered in about 4-5,  1 1/2" strips of cute skeleton fabric from the one yard that I purchased.  I began hot gluing one end of the fabric to the back of the wreath and wrapped it around the wreath and then glued the other end and repeated.  I used silver glitter spray to lightly coat the wreath.  A white bow was added and I attached a smaller black bow (which the pattern on it sort of looked like a spider web) to the white with a black pipe cleaner.  The bow was hot glued to the wreath and a glittered black spider was added to the center.  The top of the wreath was wrapped with some of the white ribbon and secured with hot glue underneath the top front and the other end was glued to the backside in order to make a hook to hang it.  BOO!  :)

Halloween Flower Bouquet

My eight year old daughter went to a Halloween Party the other night so I decided to make a Halloween Bouquet out of silk flowers.

Michael's recently had a great sale on silk flowers so I stocked up a bit.  I chose five black Gerbers for the outside of the bouquet and one large purple Peony for the middle as well as some black pumpkin embellishments.  I secured the stems together by wrapping them with floral tape, cut the stems with a wire cutter to my desired length and then sprayed them with a light silver glitter.  The floral tape was covered with black satin ribbon and the bouquet was finished with a purple bow and a glittered spider to the center of the bow.  :)

Go Pats

We live in the New England area and are big Patriots fans, so I decided to make a wreath to celebrate football season.  I went to Pinterest to get some ideas, looked through my leftover materials and this is what I came up with.

 

I had a foam circle wreath that I covered with leftover blue satin ribbon.  I then wrapped silver string it and used  spare scrapbooking letters to route for our home team.  I ran to Michael's and picked up a wooden oval shape, painted and glittered it brown and added the white paint for the laces.  GO PATS!