blinging frog princes

while getting into trouble at TJmaxx a couple of weeks ago I ran into these cuties on clearance for $2.00 a piece!

I have a frog bust and a crown – it was a reminder to me as a teenager to find the right man to marry. So when I saw these, I thought they would be really fun to get for my girls to have.

I don’t remember where (probably on pinterest) I saw this new product out by Krylon called Glitter Blast in Citrus Dream-

 

and look at them blinging it now! SO easy and SO awesome! I found the paint at Michael’s and used my 40% off coupon for it.

They look so happy now!

Just remember to seal them afterwards! And spray somewhere you don’t mind dusting everything with glitter!

necklaces for the ball

A’s friend S (4 years old) came over yesterday and we make pasta necklaces that I had found to do in the Family Fun magazine… I love that magazine. The girls made them to “go to the ball.” here they are getting ready to go…

making the necklaces…

Dried pasta soaks up food coloring remarkably well. The finished "beads" are easy for little hands to string into necklaces.

Materials

• dried pasta
• 2 teaspoons of vinegar
• 10 to 12 drops of food coloring

• ziplock bag
• yarn and twist tie
• paper towels

Instructions

1. For each color, mix about 2 teaspoons of vinegar with 10 to 12 drops of food coloring (we used both regular and neon colors) in a ziplock bag.

2. Add 1/2 cup of dried pasta (we used ziti and rigatoni) to each bag and shake it to cover the pasta with dye. Leave the pasta in the dye for about 5 minutes, shaking it occasionally.

3. Next, spoon the pasta out of the bag, placing it on paper towels. After about 15 minutes, turn the pasta pieces over. Let them dry completely. I used a blow dryer to speed things up :)

4. Tie one pasta piece to the end of a length of yarn to act as a stopper. For a simple needle, fold a twist tie around the other end of the yarn and twist its ends to secure.

talented women

I have been blessed to be surrounded by some many talented women in my life- here are some things that they have created.

This receiving blanket and burp cloth were made by my aunt. I love the mitered edges and the rick-rack

Then this is my mom’s glory! She is SO amazing and I wish I was as talented as she is in sewing. Isn’t this blanket just stunning?

This is such a good show of the quilting… hearts in a paisley pattern… love it!

These were some simple gauzy blankets that I threw together that will be great for this summer. They were easy to make… just some satin ribbon sewn around the edges to finish them off. I love the white one that is eyelet.

This is another one of my mom’s doings. Don’t you LOVE the fabric and it feels so amazing! I love good fabric!

I love the decorative stitching…

This is my hubby’s favorite set… again from my mom.

My mom was thinking smart and made me some mitered edge blankets that are only one sided. These will help with swaddling in the heat.

This photo shows the back side of the white blanket. So classy and beautifully sewn.

Then this beauty is something I CANNOT wait to get little miss B into. My good friend Anna made it after I sent some photos over to her. She has an etsy shop here if you are interested….

Then little miss A got a package from Mima (my mom) this past week with a whole bunch of items for her baby- this flannel blanket she even quilted… so cute!

Then another mitered blanket… I just had to share photos of it because I LOVE the dancers. I want something out of it… pj bottoms would be fantastic!

Then she sent over this genius play wipes case with wipes! A is always using real wipes and so this is the perfect solution to her wiping everyone’s bum… even her kitty’s and trying to do ours… that always catches us off guard!

have a berry wonderful flag day

little miss A and I were busy in the kitchen this morning doing yet another craft/activity out of the July issue of Family Fun magazine! These are so easy and look so cute! I have to say that it takes a lot for me to just let little miss A do her own thing and not have my strawberries look like the ones in the magazine. At least I was able to do these three before I let her do her own.

I would love to do some next time with star sprinkles!

celebrate independence

I saw this cute idea in the Family Fun magazine for July and had to create one of my own. I LOVE this magazine and get so many ideas from it. However, this month’s issue was LOADED with fun things to do. I made a list and me and Little Miss A are going to do them all… hopefully before Little Miss B gets here next week! So I guess you could say that it is wishful thinking :)

This was SO EASY! In the magazine, they just have the garland glued to a Styrofoam circle. I felt it a little too juvenile… maybe it was the photo of the garland. So I tried to find something to fit my tastes and I found what I needed at Hobby Lobby! Most dangerous store ever!

We took a wreath frame, wrapped some fun garland around the frame and hot glued it in place. (it took us two 9’ strands) and glued in a cute Fourth of July pick. This was a great activity for my daughter to do and she felt so proud of her creation.

It cost me about $8.00 to make. But what was fun was actually getting A’s opinion on the garland and the pick and letting her help me. So nice!

another butterfly chandelier

so after I made this one my husband thought it was so nice and well made that he challenged me to post it in my etsy shop. No kidding, within a day I had sold it! So I packaged that beauty up and shipped it off. Props to my business minded hubby…

I made another one… and it just sold too. Thankfully I was prepared for it to go…

… until it hung in the nursery today and I was kind of sad that I have to send it off… but I had some great inspiration and I cannot wait to show you what version I came up with for the girls’ room! Hopefully it will be just as fantastic as these have been! If not, I will just post it up for sale :)

sweet bracelet

when little miss A was born I made her and myself a matching bracelet set.

Oh! Look how cute she was…

So I decided to make Little Miss B one too. A bit different, by using dark pink instead of red.

Just a couple more weeks until this sweetie comes into the world! I cannot wait to meet her!

super birthday gift

my only nephew turned three last week. I so wish we could have made it to his awesome party that my sis-in-law planned so well. She is so creative and throws great parties.

I have been dying to make this cute tie for a long time… almost in hopes that we would have a boy and I could make some matching ties for Father’s Day. However, maybe it will have to stay on my to make list for a couple more years now :)

I found the tie tutorial here and it was really easy to follow. You could even do it without a sewing machine…

Of course, I had a lot of extra fabric and didn’t know what else to do with it but make an super church bag to go along with the tie-

first project in a while

I have been so busy! my hubby and I are doing house/apt shopping, financial planning, career planning, and so much more right now and I just feel like my world is a whirl wind. plus, I am starting to get so tired so fast! yesterday I had to lay down twice during the day to have enough energy to get projects done… and alas, I didn’t get anything done. or at least it feels that way.

today, I was determined to get something done that wasn’t a must… sadly, this has been on my to-do list for over a month. my daughter’s baby doll stroller has looked like this for the past two or three months-

pretty naked and pathetic if you ask me.

so today I whipped out my machine and pulled out another cover for this stroller… I think it turned out so great! I would love to do another one but do it “fancy nancy” style with “accessories” as she would say. but here are the results-

when I woke up A from her nap and showed the seat to her… she started meowing like a kitty really fast and high pitched. I asked her what that meant and she said, “it means the kitty is so happy and cited thatit is finally fixed!”

I think I got the best deal of them all… three kisses for payment.