Addiction

One of my buddies at work made me this adorable jar to hold change for Coke. Isn't it cute?

What a great teacher gift idea! We all need some form of caffeine. The friend who gave it to me could use a Starbucks fund, another teacher could use a Dr. Pepper fund, and for my mother-in-law: a Diet Coke fund.

The "Give Me Strength" sticker is cracking me up.

The Problem With Improvising

After seeing numerous deco mesh wreaths on Pinterest, I decided to whip one up.

Cute, how I thought this would be easy.

When I got to the good ol' Hobby Lobby, they were out of poly deco mesh in any color but HOT pink. I found mesh garland.  Then I got a wreath form and some pipe cleaners to twist around my mesh garland.

I attached the pipe cleaners to a 20" wreath (the only size left at my neighborhood HobLob)  form every couple inches.

First problem: 20" makes an enormous deco mesh wreath.

The wreath form wasn't going to work. My friend Magan made one using a wire hanger. Phew, that was easy to fix.

Once I switched my wreath form, I went back and put my pipe cleaners on again.

Second Problem: pipe cleaner slides all over the place

I had no real solution for this without waiting to order one of THESE. The wires on that guy are attached and won't slide all over like the pipe cleaners.

Finally, I started to add the mesh garland. I attached the end of the mesh garland to one pipe cleaner, measured off about a foot of garland and attached it to a pipe cleaner 2" (before they started sliding...) away from the last one. I continued that around the my wreath and used 18 ft of mesh garland.

Third Problem: Mesh garland does not equal poly deco mesh. Looks fairly similar...shoulda thought about the texture. It doesn't fluff the same. The little bubbles or puffs between each tie down do not stay bubbled or puffed up very well.

I wrapped silver ribbon around the wreath, added a few sprigs of sparkly stuff, and put a letter in the middle. Here is the final product:

It is still festive and cute.

The mesh isn't as poofy as I'd like it to be. If I had picked up the right materials to begin with...things may have gone a little smoother..... : /

Rainbows!

My friend Steph had a little family birthday party for her daughter, Ella. Ella told her mommy she wanted a rainbow birthday and mommy delivere. :)

Rainbow fruit kabobs, rainbow noodles, giant tissue paper pom poms in raibow colors....

Coloring (with all the colors of the rainbow of course), and the Pièce de résistance:

RAINBOW cupcakes

Actually Completed Pinterest Project!

Almost unbelievable, right? I made this waaaay back in July. It's just now making it on the blog.

Our friends Wynter and Jeric, previously seen HERE, were married this fall. For a shower gift, I whipped up this fun ornament I saw on Pinterest.

Easy breezy. I had the clear ornaments leftover from a craft fail last Christmas.

The invite conveniently included a ribbon that was the color of the bridesmaids' dresses. I just curled lines of the invite around a pencil and stuck them in the ornament. It turned out really sweet. When you turn it different ways you see a strip with the date or their names. :)

A little "bee"

Are you ready for full-on cheesy? The kids at school call me "Mrs. B." So if I have kids they will be "little bs." Get it? I know-corny. I still think it's too darn cute. Over at Chic and Cheap Nursery today, they are featuring a cute little bee baby shower. <3 <3




Here are some other cute baby bee inspirations...maybe a first birthday party..or sneak it into the nursery decor?




Okay. Sorry, it is out of my system now. :)

I hate spiders...but

this guy isn't that scary.

Last year I copied the "eek" in frames from the girls at Eighteen25.

My spider is a black pom-pom made of regular old yarn. I wrapped my yarn around five pipe cleaners. Four were turned into legs (half on each side). The last one has each end put through buttons for eyes.

I can't remember where I saw him. Maybe I picked him up from The Crafting Chicks last year? I tried to look back at their blog but didn't see it. Both sets of ladies: Eighteen25 and The Crafting Chicks, are my go to craft blogs. The sisters at Eighteen25 hold "Spooktacular September" each year and The Crafting Chicks hold "Trick or Tweet."  You should seriously go check them out. :)

Free Mummies

I keep seeing mummies all over pinterest and blogs. People are wrapping everything in gauze, tp, and white crepe paper. For a "spooky" light in the bathroom during our Halloween party, I put three little mummy lanterns together. Best part: they were free!

I grabbed three different shape jars (I save them all : / ).

Then I soaked some gauze (from our first aid bin) with modge podge using a sponge brush.

After that I simply wrapped them up my jars. I dug in my craft bin for some googly eyes, stuck those between the folds, and TA DA:

Hopefully they won't scare people too bad! That could make for a stinky bathroom. ;)

Mapping Your Travels

My friend Kacee and her hubby, Bobby, are big travelers. This summer they were in Yellowstone. Next summer they have travel plans that take them overseas. Not like I live there or anything, but I think they need some kind of map/record thingy of where they've been together! I'm loving these ideas:


                                                   Image ohdeedoh
                                Personally, I'd add the month and year they went.



                                     

                                                                image life blessons
                                          Not sure about the cork...maybe a painted board with the world map?

                                                            

                                                                      image Design Love Fest
                                               Kinda like this guy, but the world?

                                    
                                                     image Pinterest
 Kacee might go for this one! Maps as mats for pictures of her and Bobby different places. Really cute and she LOVES pictures.

A Brooklyn Limestone Shower Idea

I spotted this sooo cute idea for a bridal shower over at A Brooklyn Limestone. The "perfect blend" coffee theme is precious-especially if you have two coffee-lovers. Think of all the possibilities!  
                    

For favors you could give Starbucks Via instant coffees and coffee mugs with the "perfect blend" label.
                                        

It could be a brunch where you serve some delicious coffee cake!
                                               

You could incorporate newspaper into the decorations. People read the newspaper with their morning coffee!  Okay, I know I'm overly excited about this. I don't even drink coffee!

Hopscotch

For my birthday this summer, my family gifted me this lovely light for the dining room:

It's the "Firefly" pendant from CB2. *Love the name.*

Erik and Dad installed it pronto. I was left with some long sheets of bubble wrap. My little sister and I (like all little kids I'm sure) loved jumping on that stuff growing up. I used the bubble wrap to make hopscotch for another pair of sisters I know.

First, I cut them into even sized squares (10).

Next, I used electrical tape to put some not so glamorous numbers on the squares.

Here are the girls jumping:

I didn't stick all mine together. As you can see, it got a little wonky. The good news is the girls were able just to set up the squares, hop on random ones, and tally points based on which number they got to pop (good adding practice).

Stepping Stones

 For my grandma's birthday this year, Aunt Leigh Ann had a great idea. She decided we should all make personalized stepping stones for Grandma's garden. Lynn and I may be the only cousins over 10 years old who made ours (most of the cousins are boys). It was fun and easy! I know you've probably all seen these..but just in case. ;)

I used a kit from HobLob to make mine. It came with cement mix, a form, broken up colored glass and a mixing stick. The scrabble letters were already in my craft/junk closet.

You just mix the cement mix with water until it's like uncooked brownie mix. Then pour it into the form and *attempt* to smooth out.

After that, you just stick in any pieces you would like. You have about 30 minutes to work (depending on temp outside).

A family I know has a grandma who has put her grandkids' handprints in a stepping stone each year around their birthday. It's also just a great craft to do with kids on a summer afternoon. I'm thinking next time I'll throw in some shells and maybe add color to my cement mix.

Flowers!

May Day around here was pretty rainy. Back in Illinois we would take a little bouquet of flowers from the garden or (and more often) a coloring page bouquet to our neighbors, ring the door bell and run.

One of my students came into my room with this pretty little flower ring made out of pipe cleaners. It made me think I should've NOT used the rain as an excuse and put together something for my neighbors anyhow.

Go to these sites to see some FUN flowers to make:

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2011/03/22/10-beautiful-fabric-flower-tutorials/

This peony pin is my favorite from Skip to My Lou's post of 10 fabric flower tutorials. (Personally, I'd go pink...it's a peony after all..)

Last week at    Jones Design Blog she threw:

I'm loving her spunky button bouquet.

So many options! NO excuses next May Day!