We Totally Made This Christmas Garland

It's not everyday that I can think of a pretty inexpensive craft that my kids can help with; usually inexpensive stuff equals not toddler friendly.  But this, this is different.  As I was flipping through the latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens (don't knock it, that magazine is cheap and has some good ideas in it), I spotted this garland; it may not be the prettiest, but it sure looked easy.  I tried to find a link to the actual garland that was pictured, but gave up after searching various things, so if you click on the link, it's just gonna take to the plain old main page, feel free to 'search it up'!

Here's all that you will need to make a pretty spectacular, easy, keepsake Christmas garland.

Paper Straws (I got mine in the dollar bin at Target a while ago)
String of any kind
Scissors
Wooden beads

Approximate cost (if everything is bought new)- $10.
Difficulty Level- Easy

Start by laying everything out and then telling your kids not to touch anything so that you can snap a picture for your blog, that will go over well:

Next cut each straw into small pieces, I cut each of my straws into thirds.

Then I approximated how much string I would need to fill, knotted one end and let the kids go to town; alternating between a bead and a green and red straw. Of course, I had to assist to the point that they could actually help, which really means pulling the string though the bead or straw.  That lasted for a few minutes, evenutally they both decided that they'd had enough and quit half way through, but it was fun while it lasted.

Once you reach the end of the string, and may or may not still have kids helping, tie off the other end and snap another picture, 'cause look at y'all, you just made something pretty awesome.

Hang it up.

He Turned Two

As I sit here typing this, I can't help but feel like George Banks alah Father of the Bride.  The party is over, everything was fantastic and just now, I have a moment to reflect on everything; it was delightful. And I mean that literally.  Every guest that came was important and appreciated, all of the love that was abounding from one side of the house to the other was awesome and in the middle of it all was my sweet boy- who spent a better part of the afternoon spinning in webs of balloons and attempting to fall asleep.

Since it was his Golden Birthday, Arden enjoyed a Willy Wonka themed extravaganza.  I will go into detail where necessary; almost everything you see was handmade and inspired by Pinterest or some other serious time spent Google Image searching.

Enjoy!

The candy buffet idea is a pretty common one.  I made the candy jars from pillars that I found from Target and then glued jars on top.  While they look nice, they're also sturdy; midway through the party Arden toppled over the gray pillar.  Needless to say, 100 or so Jelly Bellies scampered across our floor in a matter of seconds, but the jar and pillar remained intact.  I call that a success. 

These I purchased from a party supply store.  They look nice, but they are seriously annoying to fluff up; probably never doing this again.

So, we were going to have people "cheese" with the golden frame I got at Michaels ($7.99), but that never happened.  Arden was the only lucky guy to get a framed picture.

Easy.  Cute.  Cheap.

Dip large marshmallows into semisweet chocolate.  Next dip them into nonpareils and skewer.

Bought these at a party store.  Not necessary, but very cute.

My calling card: chocolate covered pretzels.

Glorious.

So, these were supposed to be edible teacups.  Let's have a little chat about Pinterest fails shall we, 'cause this is one of them.  Time consuming and fragile; but it's my favorite part of the movie, so I think it was still worth it.

Despite what you're thinking, the mark on his forehead is a bruise, not chocolate... so no, don't think that I just forgot to wipe it off or something.

By the end of the party, there were: Doritos, fingers, mac and cheese, animal crackers, marshmallows, rice krispie treats and probably a few things that I don't even want to know about, all dunked in the chocolate fountain; in other words, it was a huge crowd pleaser.  Side note: when someone asked me if I bought this, I said, "yes."  A friend of mine said, "You need to flip your hair and say, 'yea, I own a chocolate fountain now."  Apparently, chocolate fountains are a sign that a girl has made it, so consider me: made.

Absolutely adorable.

I love this girl; she's always down to party and appreciates the details like no one else I know.

i'm a big deal.  wow.  let's party.
Anyone who knows us, understands that those captions are spot on.

Clearly, the signage action was plentiful with the over 28 crowd.

Super simple, super cute.  I found this heart ramekin for $1 at Target.  I got a small styrofoam ball for $3.99 at Michaels and then I put a whole 'lotta Dum Dums all up on it.  Tip: angle the sticks towards the surface of the table and not horizontally; I learned that the hard way. 

I searched high and low for a tutorial on making these styrofoam lollipops, here goes: take a styrofoam disk ($5.99 at Michaels) and cover it in tissue paper; do not leave gaps, cover the entire surface.  (I purchased my tissue paper at the dollar store, it's much cheaper and works just as well.)  Insert a dowel rod into the bottom of the disk, I interred mine about an inch and a half.  Take iridescent cellophane and wrap the entire disk, tying a bow at the base of the disk where the dowel rod is sticking out.  Make sure to arrange the cellophane so that it appears as though it is wrapping the disk like a lollipop wrapper would.  Wha-lah.  Project complete.  They cost about $8 a pop, so they are nice, but pricey.

And what Willy Wonka themed party would be complete with out a Wonka bar and a purple top hat?

Happy Birthday, Arden.  We love you!

State of the Heart

Ok, so that blog post title is so punny it almost makes me want to vom, but because it's clever, I'm not.  I'm all... well, I'm kinda like this clip from Jurassic Park 1 at 0:52 seconds:



But besides that gratutious JP1 clip, there is an actual point to this post.  A little while ago, I happened to come across Atlases of the United States in the dollar spot at Target, not gonna lie, I bought like 4 of them-- totally to Jim's dismay.

After collecting lots of dust in the office, I decided that it was now or never to get my craft on with these things.  So I started simple.  I have seen this done many different ways, but here's the inspiration.  Of course I don't have access to such sophisticated editing software and printing equipment, so I busted out those atlas maps and here's what I managed to come up with:

What you'll need:
1. A map- I have an antique map waiting to be used for the perfect project, I'm not sure if this is it, but the nicer the map, obviously the nicer the project will turn out.
2. Needle and thread and a pencil.
3. A frame.

Here's how to do it:

First, take your pencil and draw a heart on the opposite side of the paper on where you want the heart to appear, I didn't do it this way the first time and you can still see the pencil guidelines.  Then start sewing away, using your guidelines on the back.  Please keep in mind that paper is incredibly unforgiving and cheap paper even more so.  Therefore, use your guideline meticulously or you'll end up ripping the paper and the project will be a bust.

After you've got the first few stitches in, you're pretty much home free.  Once you've got your heart complete, then you can secure it in the back, I did this by threading my string through the knot at the end of the thread.  Next, you should frame it and then either display on a table, or hang.

Wha-lah, here's my handmade heart map- please note that I don't live in Washington, nor have I ever been, I chose a random state and a random city.  So, if your're from Clarkston, Washington and would like a heart-map of your city, let me know; I'll mail it to you.

Also, and I think I've said this before, but I'm always so torn as to whether or not I actually want "home-made" projects to look that way or not.  In this case I actually think it adds to the character- like I said that quality of the map leaves a little to be desired, but that can be remedied pretty easily.

I hope you make a hear-map of your own and that your friends and family enjoy seeing your handiwork.  

#17 Set Up A Home Office

One of my 30 before 30's is to set up a home office.  As you can see below, I now consider this: accomplished.  As someone who's always struggled with not being organized, I realized that it was important to at least concentrate our junk and messy activities in one room.  Since it's been about 6 months since I did this and the room is looking quite messy today, as is the rest of the house, I'm not sure how well that worked out, but the office itself looks amazing.

Jim and I dedicated one whole day to cleaning out, then cleaning up the office.  Followed by moving everything in and installing all of the projects (yes, 2 of which were featured on Monday and Tuesday).  By the end of the day, we had a functional and family friendly office that still met the goal of getting more organized.

The total cost of the make over was around $350 ($388.94 to be exact), here's how it turned out:

I don't have a good picture of the desk, but here it is, $135.99 via Target.

The rug we had, but it was about $100 from Pier1; however, it's no longer available.

$16.99 via Target.

I tried to find this online, but it doesn't seem like it's available any longer.  We got this for about $50 via  Target.

This is no longer available either; however, it was about $20 via Target.

I love these simple pictures that I picked up at Ikea for $7.99 each.

The frames were purchased at Ikea for $9.99 each.  This also meets my 30 before 30 #21 since these were the pictures I was referencing when I wrote that goal.

As I noted on Monday, this was about $10.

I love this idea too.  The baskets were purchased at Target for $1 each, then I bought crayons and markers and hung them with 3M hooks so the kids would have quick, easy access to the supplies they needed.  Total cost, about $10.

As I mentioned yesterday, this was about $10.

Tip #4

We have always been very fortunate to be able to purchase books for our children.  Every once in a while, we'd somehow find ourselves "doubled up" on books, in particular, ones with Elmo and Sesame Street friends.  I think it's because as the first book became "loved" and pages started getting tattered and eventually ripped, we would have a spare one waiting in the wings, this meant that there were no tears when the worn out book would be retired.

As we were updating our office/coloring room, I decided that Cullen's favorite book, Elmo Loves You, needed to be included somehow.  Since we had 2 copies and one was primarily being used as a "rip up" book, I decided to create some artwork and I think it turned out pretty well.

Here's what you will need: frames, paint (if necessary), pictures from a "well-loved" book of your choice and hooks to hang the frames.

I started by painting the frames that I got for about $2 from Micheals.  Next, I cut out some of my favorite pictures from:

$3.50 via Amazon

Next, I cut the pages to size and put them into the now dry frames.  Then I used some 3M picture hangers, which are easily removable, chose a wall and went for it.  Here's how it turned out:

The total cost of the craft was approximately $10, including the cost of the book.

I hope that next time a book has seen better days, that you're able to create something memorable.

** This craft/tip will also be featured in the post tomorrow that outlines how I made over our office in one day for under $350.

Tip #3

Here's a quick, easy and inexpensive way to showcase the art work that your children create!

What you'll need: yarn, clothes pins, hooks.

First, you need to install the hooks on the wall- I chose to use the 3M wall hooks that are easily removable.  Next, I cut off enough yarn in order for there to be a little "slack" after hanging it between the hooks on the wall.  Finally, I attached some artwork with the clothes pins I purchased and wha-lah an instant art gallery for less than $10.

** This craft/tip will also be featured in the post on Wednesday that outlines how I made over our office in one day and for under $350.00.

Photo Letter Art

For a long time, I've seen photo letter art splashed across Pinterest and Etsy and I sincerely wanted to buy every single over-priced item.  However, because we're on a budget (like the rest of the world) I never splurged because I was pretty sure that I could make it for much less.  Well, I was right.  Here's how I did it.

First, I came across a "pin" that led me to the inspiration for the project.  Next, I gathered my supplies, here's what you'll need:

1. Access to the internet and a printer in order to print the letters of your choice from here.
2. Frames to put the letters in.
3. A board to mount the letters.
4. Glue to adhere the letters.
5. Paint, if necessary, to change the color of the board.
6. Hooks for the board to be hung, if necessary.

Here's what that looked like for me (please excuse the cell phone camera pictures):

1. First, I chose the letters that I wanted.  In this case, I was looking to spell my nephew's name, Joseph.  The selection that I referenced above, is fantastic.  I was literally on letter overload.

2. I googled and found out that the pixel dimensions of a 4"x6' picture, which was the frame size I had, are 432x288.  After saving the letter art, I went to PicMonkey, uploaded my photo, clicked resize, "unchecked" the keep proportions box and entered my new pixel dimensions.  (As a side note, I do pretty much all of my photo editing via this website.)  Then I re-saved my letters and printed them out.

3. Once I had them printed, I cut them to size and inserted them into the frames.

4. My husband was very kind and painted the board that I used to put the frames on.

5. I then glued the frames to the board and wha-lah, a finished product.

Here's the picture tutorial and results, including the total cost at the bottom:

I purchased these from Target, they were $7.19 for 4 frames.

The board that I used was a bargain I picked up a while ago.

The finished product.

My total cost for the project was $20.78, including the cost of the board.  I think that's pretty reasonable considering comparable pieces are going for approximately $40 on Etsy.

Celebrating Baby Joseph

This past weekend, every gathered to officially celebrate Baby Joseph- not that we haven't been doing that for the last 2 months, but this weekend was special.  He got to get dressed up and we marked an important occasion in his life... and then we partied like it was our job the rest of the afternoon.  I may or may not have had 5 too many cookies, but that's what happens when you're surrounded by everyone you love.

This was our gift for Baby Joseph.  Stay tuned for a post this week to find out how I made this for $12.79.