projects only seen on my instagram! (some of what I've been making this month)

 a pom-pom garland I finally strung and hung in my girls' new shared room! (I made the pom-poms almost a year ago)

 and the felted ball garland I strung after buying the balls a year ago to make a wreath (but discovered what I had bought would only have filled a 1/4 of a wreath form).

 a Gold posterboard triangle bunting/garland for my tree!

 died (food coloring) and glittered (spray adhesive+glitter) pasta garland (I re-strung onto twine and tied each pasta bow on, rather than gluing which didn't work well).

 Made stockings for my family (and made 3 extra just.in.case.) out of a felted wool blanket, antique doily trim, and turkish (antique) wool felt coasters! All things my mom had so nicely passed on to me as she cleaned and organized all her vintage finds.

  spray-painted the front of Amélie's new $2.50 shoes (on sale) from H&M.

And bleached a bunch of bottlebrush trees that I bought  last year for this very purpose!

 The last trimester of pregnancy (plus not having to do a fab.com sale this year) really helped me kick my butt in gear! And this is only maybe 40% of what I have actually made and done. I don't like to be TOO obnoxious on instagram or this blog so I try to leave some of it out... or spread it out:)

Magnetic DIY Nativity Advent calendar

I made this advent calendar the last week of November, and somehow I didn't get around to posting about it until a week before Christmas. Sorry peeps. That is just the lame kind of blogger I am! My family and real life take priority over this little space, and so I make and do a million projects that never get posted on here! I guess you could always pin this one for next year:)

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Metal serving tray, or the like (I used a vintage t.v. dinner tray!) that magnets will stick to.
Magnetic "Canvas" (available where you find the magnets at Michaels or JoAnn's)
Acrylic paint/brushes
kitchen scissors (or scissors you don't mind cutting the thin magnet canvas with)
Felt, or fabric to make a pouch for storing the pieces (I used felt of course)


PIECES TO PAINT:
Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, hay for the manger, the manger,  mouse (cow, or other barn animal), donkey, 3 wisemen, 3 gifts, large Shepard, small Shepard, 2 sheep, 3 angels, 1 large star, 2 small stars, the stable logs (there are 4 of them-used all for one day of the advent)

These are the pieces I chose to paint so that we would have enough to last 24 days. You can do it differently, those are just my suggestions. I had a hard time figuring out 24 different things to put up there that would all fit on my tray!!

 I first created a basic envelope with velcro closure to store the pieces.

2. I then painted directly onto the magnet canvas little cartoonish figures. I wanted this to be a fast and easy project so I didn't stress about how they looked, just on having different colors, and having them be small enough to fit the tray. Make this simple. Paint circles for their heads, and a solid shape of color for their bodies. It doesn't have to be a work of art!

3. Once they were all very dry (I let them dry over night), I cut them out with my kitchen shears.

 4. I then took an paint marker and marked them all on the front with their number for the day they should be put up.... before realizing I could've just done it on the back.... duh

You are finished! My daughters have been so excited to take a magnet out of the pouch each day and put it up on the board. It was so simple and easy to make this nativity advent calendar and I am so glad I did. I hope it gets entered into their memories of childhood Christmases as we do it year after year:)

Easy DIY kids ornament!

 We are doing a holiday activity every day as one of our advent "calendars" this year, which has been really fun! It has helped me get in the spirit of Christmas, and since my oldest is 3 1/2 this year she is really into everything we do. One of the first cards she pulled out said to "Make an ornament for the tree."  And I came up with this fun idea when we were at the Christmas tree lot!

Materials needed:
free slice of christmas tree trunk (you can go to a lot and ask for whatever they have. We didn't even buy a tree, just gathered loose branches and this trunk disc!)

paint, glue, glitter, spray paint (whatever materials you have on hand)

twine/yarn/string and hot glue (or drill a hole)

1. I spray-painted the disc gold on both sides
2. Olivia (3 yrs) painted it with her tempera paints
3. She added drops of elmer's glue and then sprinkled a few colors of glitter on top. We left it to dry over night.
 4. I cut twine and hot glued it to the back, sandwiched with a piece of felt. 

Easy! They make an ornament that is gorgeous and so simple! I like those kind of projects:)!!

DIY: Holiday Garlands and Tassels!

Remember when we made that awesomely versatile shirt? Well, thanks to My Own Fringemaker I have been busy making more awesome things out of yarn for the holiday season. I seriously love this contraption, as it allows me to make fringe, tassels, pom-poms, and so much more out of yarn and ribbons you already have around the house. If you want some ideas for using fringe and such check out my pinterest board here.

For my first holiday decoration idea, I tied on my yarn and wrapped at about 1 inch apart (I did 2 at once on the fringemaker). The Fringemaker allows you to just hold the yarn ball, and then you twist the crank really fast and it winds it all on there in seconds! I also made several pom-poms at once on it and then put the two together to make a garland you could hang on your wall or Christmas tree.

I also made a large tassel out of my twisted strands and pom-poms (I really really love pom-poms, and not just cause they are trendy, but I always have! I even made a pom-pom scarf my freshman year of college--13 yrs ago).

Here is my tassel hanging proudly with my reindeer garland and wood flag bunting (made from balsa wood and twine). I love it!

The 3rd Thanksgiving bunting...

Luckily I got the 3rd bunting up a week before Thanksgiving.... and luckily I can use it again next year so it wasn't a waste of work! I had this thing ready to go since November 3rd, it just needed my mom's special hole punch for stringing. Oops.  Here is the how-to. Just in case you want to make one for next year... or for a Hunger Games party? Or perhaps just because you love golden arrows.

Materials:
Gold Poster board
black or white poster board
string/ribbon (I used some holiday gold)

1.I cut 3 long strips from my poster board. One was 2.5" wide, one was 3.5" wide and one was 4.25" wide.

2.I then free-handed the arrows with my exacto knife. (I didn't cut the little "feathery" slits until after I had cut out the main arrow shape.)

3.I paired up my arrows and cut a circle big enough for the center of each pair out of the black posterboard.

4. You can do 2 hole punches (I used my mom's punch that creates smaller, rectangular slits), and then string the ribbon through them so they hang flat. Make sure you do the punches at the TOP of the circle!

Hang your festive bunting for all to see.

Thanksgiving decorations to hold you over....

 My daughter was really upset when I took down the Halloween decorations this year. And I felt a little tug to put up Christmas decorations, but knew that November 1st was a bit too early... So I decided this year I would make some Thanksgiving bunting!

Now, I made THREE different buntings, but the third one has yet to be hung because I have yet to punch the holes in it to be strung. 

1.I made the circular accordions out of book pages for my wedding 6.5 years ago. My mom saved them, and here they are finally being put to use again! I mounted them on black posterboard and scalloped the edges. Then I cut out cursive letters to spell "give thanks." I couldn't think of anything better (I'm not so clever with words).

2.The wooden bunting was inspired (copied) from this and though I never read the tutorial, I had a visual in my head when I was at the craft store. I have no idea where you would get the veneer cards they are referring to, but I just bought thin balsa wood (not the thinnest, the next one up) and cut it with an exacto knife. I thought about dipping them in gold, or adding something to them, but then I realized that's what I always do, and maybe a little simplicity would be better for now:)

The pink/cream decoration on the side is a tutorial I have coming soon (as well as the 3rd bunting!). and lastly, I spray-painted this giant toy rhino gold, because he hangs out on the shelving that divides the living room from the "play room," and I thought it looked more sophisticated! Also I plan on strapping some presents on his back for Christmas.

Halloween, we'll miss you!

Because she wanted to be both Sleeping Beauty AND a Butterfly.... I introduce Sleeping Beauterfly, who couldn't have been happier in her outfit all day (this was right before her preschool parade).

 I know being a butterfly isn't super original but Olivia is 3 now and turns out she is very opinionated about what she does and does not want to dress up as. Pink anything would've worked for her (as determined by her browsing through the Party City ad sent to our house), but Sleeping Beauty was her top choice (which I had luckily already made for her pink princess birthday). When I showed her some butterfly costumes she said she also wanted to be a pink butterfly! So I decided all three of us girls could do the butterfly thing this year and be a super girly bunch since this is our last year as all girls (and a daddy).  Franc was the "butterfly catcher" (thanks to a friend who suggested it to me when I was trying to figure out how to incorporate him)!

 Olivia also picked out this bright pink wig, but then refused to wear it for anything but photos. yay! This was her version of the costume for our trunk or treat and for her ballet class. That day she told me she wanted to be Minnie Mouse, because her friend was going as that. Uh. what? We don't have that costume, but luckily I was able to convince her that this LaLaLoopsy dress (which we already had) was just like Minnie Mouse because of the polka dots...

 And my other cutie butterfly:) It was fun watching her figure out the whole trick-or-treating thing this year. She ate more candy than made it into her purse.

FYI : I used the Martha Stewart tutorial linked above to make the wings, but just made my own cut-outs/shapes/patterns for the inside of the wings. Amélie's wings were pre-made hand-me-downs from the Gap:)

Hope you all had a HappY HAllowEEn!!! To see our past costumes look at these links:
Quetzalcoatl 
Olivia the Pig

Bat Silhouettes for Halloween! With free pdfs.

 This year Olivia is 3 (not pictured) and old enough to be super into Halloween. So I finally decided to do some real decorating. I've been waiting for the day I had kids old enough to make the holidays magical again! I can't wait to be an awesome holiday mom, like mine always was! (Speaking of... check out her shop for high-quality, beautiful paper holiday decor (including some sweet large crows for Halloween!)

 So here are my flying bats. I need to cut out more so I can continue them onto this wall.... (and the little circles on those wood things are actually skulls).

 So, if you want to make some of these bats yourself, here are the ones I drew, which you can print onto cardstock, and then cut and trace them onto black posterboard! So easy (though it takes awhile).
BATS 1    BATS 2   BATS 3

And here are the decorations (the only ones) I've been putting out for the past 3 years. Still love these skeletons, and this year olivia and I made fingerprint spiders. She was so proud of her "spooky" spiders, she kept trying to show and scare her daddy (and when he feigned fear, she told him not to worry, "they are just cute daddy, they aren't real").

will you be my last minute valentine?

I just found out my playgroup is supposed to exchange valentine's tomorrow.  I had to think fast and here is what I came up with (drew) during the girls' nap. I plan on either

A. perforating the edges around the rock and attaching a string to the back so it can be a super cool rock necklace.

or:

B. Attach a packet of poprocks to the back (which I planned on doing, went to Target to get, and then bought way to much other stuff and forgot about the reason I went there.....).

If you are in a similar predicament  you can download the valentine below:

DOWNLOAD HERE 

for version that prints 5 on one sheet

DOWNLOAD HERE

for version that prints 1

Happy February!!!

 I'm just not one of those bloggers who can juggle kids, business, a blog, AND lots and lots of new tutorials like every single day. I can't. Sometimes I lay awake thinking about how I should be better at this... or that... how girl "A" or girl "B" can do it all but I just can't seem to do it. I hope you all still like reading my blog even though I can only post once or twice a week!

Anyway, I just don't know if I will get to making something new and fabulous this year for Valentine's day so I thought I'd recycle some of my oldies from the blog....

 You can make this to wear on your hot bod...

 and this to wear on your head....

 this to hang  in your kitchen

for over your bed (or anywhere really)

forget about going out (it is on a TUESDAY.....) and just make this delicious meal (again with the goat cheese and basil!!)

and this for dessert. oh it is beyond delicious. beyond. especially with a dollop of almond flavored whipping cream.

and if you still have the energy, then dye some doilies to decorate the table!

Happy Valentine's Month!!

a kitchenette for my girls

 

 

I made my girls (though it was given to Olivia for Christmas I will MAKE her share it with Amélie when the time comes!) a little kitchenette. You've seen them all over pinterest, and now you've seen one on here. Only mine is missing the faucet. and an oven handle.

I bought this scrappy weird wood thing for $2 back in May with the intentions of making it into a kitchen and never got a chance. Next thing I know it is Christmas eve-eve and I REALLY wanted to do it, but I am swamped with the fab thing. So I got my husband to do the dirty work (the  spray-painting and cutting) and on Christmas eve I painted all the details and sewed the curtains. Done. well minus the faucet (and the oven handle, but my husband put the oven door on upside down so.....). I need to buy the letter "J" at the craft store and make it the faucet (saw it on another one).

The best thing about this baby is that I only spent $2.25 out of pocket! EVERYTHING else I scavanged from various places.

Details:
-little wooden "eggs" from the craft store (that I happened to have) for knobs
-old wooden drawer knobs for the "temperature" knobs
-used contact paper to cut circles out of, cover the stove-top and then spray the red burners on (same with all other detailing)

-the bottom part had a big space and no sides, so I sewed curtains and then attached them with velcro. sticky velcro on the wood part (underneath) and sew-able velcro on the the fabric.

**and thanks to my father-in-law who cut out the burners and the hole for the sink.
 and to my parents for their white spray paint!

snow princesses

 I didn't have a chance to finish making Olivia and Amélie the Christmas dresses I started in November due to Fab.com taking over my life for a month. BUT luckily I found this thrifted white tulle, fake fur, and lace dress my mom had given me awhile back. Sounds cheesy, and on the hanger doesn't look like much, but my little princess made it look like a thousand bucks!

 she looked so beautiful I HAD to take a photo. lucky for me it was after church and she was tired...

so I got a lot of cool shots like this as she rolled around on the sidewalk outside our apartment!

 christmas eve on our way to dinner... pulling amelie's ear...

 so amélie gets back!

 Amélie's "pull it all together at the last minute" outfit was comprised of my old baby sweater and booties (I recently was given all my old baby/toddler clothes!!!!) and an antique baby dress. (THANKS MOM!!!!)

 gorgeous.

Franc and I wore mostly black in an effort to look slimmer...  Merry belated Christmas everyone! haha. sorry folks. I am almost done with all my Christmas posts.....