It's That Time of Year...

Well we've started our last week before Winter Break and things are in full swing at my house.  It looks like Christmas and I'm working on it smelling like it as well.  I have a list of cupcakes I'm making for Natalie's school for her Holiday Party on Friday.  But before that we have her first school/dance company show Thursday night! We can't wait!  She has been singing every Christmas song on the radio but has requested "Up on the House Top" the most by far!
After thinking about what I could get her wonderful teachers I remembered the PLAY project I did in her play area over the summer.  So I wrapped their last initial with red and white polka dot fabric and covered the edges with 7/8" grosgrain green ribbon.  Pretty simple.  I like how it's obviously Christmas without being smothered in reindeer and snowmen.  It can be added to a wreath, placed on their tree, or used as decor as is.

The next craft I found here.  I had to make a few adjustments because I couldn't find 3" Styrofoam round wreaths ANYWHERE.  So I settled for a wooden circle that you can find in the wood crafts section at Michael's.  It's not quite 3" but it worked.  My husband then took it and punched a hole in the middle. {Thanks Andy}  I followed Stacy's directions and this is how it turned out:

I like these so much that I'm thinking about ditching the Christmas Tree balls next year and just making a ton of these.  We'll see...

Happy Holiday Crafting!

Counting Our Blessings

I thought I would post our Thanksgiving treats while I'm on a bow making break! 
Natalie started school in August and she loves it but even more they love her!  Couldn't ask for more!  To show them how thankful we are for them I sent in the following:


Some Thanksgiving Love

So this includes the following:
A brown paper bag I picked up from JoAnn's. 
I created the tag at Wordle- WHICH I LOVE!  You type in words and then you can choose the layout, color, etc.  You can print it and frame it.  Or you can print, scan and make smaller versions of them like I did.  SO CUTE!  I used all kinds of Thanksgiving words: turkey, feast, thankful, grateful, celebrate, harvest, family, Thanksgiving, blessings, pies, home.
Those are pecan bars that are quickly disappearing in my house.  I saw the recipe on 5 Ingredient Fix and they were easy to make.
I threw in a bag of fall colored M&M's I sorted myself.  I was going to add the Thankful buttons I did below but they were all smushed in the bag.  So M&M's it is!
Natalie wanted to draw a picture for each bag.  She's is all about the Handprint Turkey!

I made some extra Pecan bars and threw together some Thankful Buttons for the staff at her school.  I wanted to make this treat at first but I couldn't find round pretzels except online AND I wasn't too keen about their name...  There's alot of little steps for this one- unwrap all of the kisses- laying out all of the pretzels.  So make sure you have enough time and enough patience!


Love these colors!

Nat's down for a nap- but when she wakes up we're in full blown Thanksgiving mode.  I need to make my Bourbon Pecan pie and we have some Handprint Turkeys to make. 
As Natalie would say, "Happy Turkey Day!"  
Enjoy your family, friends and whoever you are blessed to be around tomorrow!

A Hectic Halloween!

I can't believe it's been 3 months since I posted anything.  Ahh!
Here are a few Halloween crafts I did...
Every year for our school's Fall Fest, each class makes a pumpkin and then they are raffled off.  Now that I am with 3rd graders- I was able to do a really cool one.  Thanks to Martha Stewart for her great ideas!  Instead of the seeds- I used felt and googly eyes.

The sign says, "Hoooooooooooooo, are YOU calling a pumpkin?"

Next, my friend sent me a picture like this one from Etsy.  And as creepy as this one is- I liked the concept. So I start searching for one with a heart and not a baby skeleton- NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!  So I picked up a black tee, red and white paint, and downloaded a rib and heart stencil.  And this is how it turned out...

I wore this to our Fall Fest...so if you didn't know- now you do!

And finally, for Natalie's annual Halloween craft- we added a treat this year.  I found these adorable Mummy Cookie Pops and fell in love with them!  Just a tidbit- stretch the work over 2 days- there are a lot of intricate details...

Don't I look yummy?

Dj Inkers font (Spider Web) & clipart

Natalie's mummy print

Now to get started on Thanksgiving...

Lasagna Cupcakes

So during a recent "mail call" (as my husband likes to call it- because of how infrequently we check our box) I read through a PEOPLE magazine.   I found a recipe for Lasagna Cupcakes based on the one from Heirloom LA (who are AMAZING!).  It's this recipe below that is originally for mac n' cheese lasagna cupcakes but I did a meat version.  I browned meat and added some spaghetti sauce.

Photo shoot designed by Lisa & Andy

They were good.  In my opinion, the green beans were better (they will change your life)!  For next time, I will add more cheese and sauce.  But I will give it a thumbs up for a first try!

A {sneak peek} of Sanibel

We took a short family vacation to Sanibel Island which continued to Coconut Point.  All Natalie wanted to do was swim.  Which consisted of floating under water and basically snorkeling, without the gear, on the first day.  Which didn't do well on my nerves.
Here are a few shots from the trip...

Natalie's new favorite animal is a giraffe- so naturally we ate at
The Blue Giraffe.

Our Beach Babe

Somewhere Over The Rainbow...

She's a Growing Girl

So Natalie is 2 1/2 and we have JUST hung up her growth chart...  

Never too late- she'll never stop growing.  

I found the chart through zulily (which deserves it's own posting).  It's a company called petite lemon PRINTS and they have a wide range of fun things but are known for their decor, stationery and gifts.  They have SUPER cute colors, fonts, characters, EVERYTHING.  I could buy the whole store!  They also personalize items which I was ALL for!
The chart came in PERFECT form (rolled) which is the way it stayed for a LONG time while I figured out how to hang it without ruining it.  In the meantime, I bought some cork board drawer liner and a removable hook.  I have a plethora of ribbon (especially lavender) and sticky tac.  Unrolled the chart in our garage and let the humidity do the work!  :)       
I then carefully attached the chart to the sticky side of the cork board- which was nerve racking!  Hung it up on the wall and attached the ribbon to the hook...

Such a big girl!

Now I haven't added any of her check up heights- I feel like I'll criticize my handwriting every time I look at it! When she stood in front of it though she was somewhere in the neighborhood of 34-36 inches!  Such a big girl!

How big is Natalie?
THIS BIG!

LOVE THIS!

So thank you Petite Lemon Prints for making such a great product that we'll treasure every inch of the way...

SUPER CHEESY- but I had to!

Sand Dollar Art

Here is another project that includes some of the things we have collected on our island trips.  This one was my sister, Emily's idea.  I love that I am surrounded by such amazingly creative people!  So she collected an immense amount of sand dollars during her vacation here.  Don't worry none of them were alive.

{And on a side note- if you desire sand dollars at any time go the the north end outside part of Anclote Key.  We nicknamed it Sand Dollar Island on the 4th of July.  Crazy amounts of sand dollars just lying around.}
We soaked them in a water/bleach solution- rinsed them REALLY good (Thanks Mom) and let them dry.

In the meantime- we purchased a white shadow box and some material that would match Natalie's bathroom- where this piece ended up.

She used hot glue to attach the sand dollars to the material.  

And viola!

It fits in perfectly with the color scheme in her bathroom and I love that it's a piece COMPLETELY from her Aunt Emily!  <3

A Beach Jewelry Holder

This past week we went on a night cruise to 3 Rooker and even though we had close encounters with both a type of sting ray :( AND dolphins :) I was able to find a untouched mussel shell in mint condition AND in one piece.  I brought it back- soaked it, then bleached it in a 50/50 solution.  I had to repair it a little at the hinge which I did with hot glue.  It didn't want to lay flat so I attached a washer on the bottom and a little piece of felt so it wouldn't scratch my dresser.  Finally- I put a layer of baby oil on it- which made it shine!  A beach jewelry holder...

Love.

I don't know if I've posted this or not.  When we were at the sandbar north of Anclote last summer- I started collecting shells with Nat and placed them in the shape on an /S/.  Uploaded the picture to CVS and inserted it into their Easel Art piece.  

Love more!

These shells are in a pretty pink basket in Nat's bathroom- a cute, easy and cheap way of decorating!

Summer Fruit Ice Pops

I have seen this EVERYWHERE online now that summer has begun.  So I decided to make some with Natalie. I bought a set of ice pops at Bed, Bath & Beyond.  I started by cutting up peaches and watermelon into small chunks.  I placed the peaches in 2 pops and the watermelon in the remaining 2 pops then filled all four with white grape juice.  I threw them in the freezer for 24 hours and VOILA!

Side view

So proud!

YUMMY!

Natalie's play area is under construction...

My summer project is to make Natalie's play area downstairs even cuter.

Before

I have gotten some great ideas from blogs all over the place.  The most inspiring one would be Modern Parents Messy Kids.  It's SUPER simple and all from IKEA.  I went the other day and got the magnetic board and spice containers but am waiting to put it up.
The reason is we are going to add this piece to the area so we need to wait to see if things shift.  Seems Natalie's toys are oozing everywhere!

I'm not a painter so I need to add stuff to the wall that's easy- insert vinyl wall art!  LOVE THIS STUFF!  I found a super cute vinyl tree at Baby Gift Station.

Reading to her friends

Then we have my PLAY project.  This was actually inspired from the show Cougartown.  Jules has a fun fabric covered EAT in her kitchen.  I bought the letters and fabric from Joann's.

First I painted the letters so the lighter fabrics wouldn't show the cardboard.

The I put the letters face down and traced them on the fabric.  I made sure the leave enough space around  it.

I put some cotton filler...

A little will go a long way

Cut the letters out of the fabric and wrapped them around the cardboard letters with a staple gun.  There was a lot of cutting and stapling.

I then covered the sides with folded material.

Just so Natalie remembers what to do in this area!

:)

 So those are the updates so far.  Hopefully by the end of the month we'll be done!

If You Need Me Between Now and August...

A couple weeks ago the crew and I island hopped over to Anclote.  Our favorite new spot.  Natalie LOVES it and we enjoy it as well.
*For you parents who like to swim and your little one is more independent that you feel comfortable with- purchase a PUDDLE JUMPER ASAP!  Awesome.  We bought ours at a local pool store.  They have different colors and faces for the kids to choose from.
When we were on the island- my husband snapped this picture.  Simply amazing that we live moments from this place and get to enjoy it anytime we want.  This picture makes me feel happy.

  

Better Late Than Never...

So I've been on Summer Vacation for 4 days and I thought I would post some end of the year crafts.  I did another brick for my Adopt a Class family but I also made another for a wonderful woman who we met on our May Day Walk.  There has been this tradition at our school that the Kindergarten students hand out tissue paper flowers to the people in our town.  Super fun and the kids LOVE it!  We gave a flower to this woman who was so touched and impressed by my kids that she wanted to get us something for our End of the Year party.  So we had pizza on her!  To say thank you I made her a brick as well.
Here is the Adopt a Class Brick:

N is the son I taught and E is the daughter I had this year.  M is me.  

Here is our May Day Brick:

I also usually write a poem about the year and the special moments and then add the kid's hand prints.  BUT this year I procrastinated and realized this on day 178 out of 180 so I changed the hand print part of it.  I am a huge fan of Ed Emberely's work so I had each child made a thumb print art and created a summer scene.  So this is how it turned out:

So off to finish my break and enjoy my Natalie time. 

We're Environmental!

So as a teacher I try to expose my kids to as much environmental print as possible and this is just taking it to another level.

This is my find at The 2011 Safety Harbor Arts and Crafts Show today.  It's by a local husband and wife team "By The Letter" who specializes in custom letter photography.  They were great!  Very helpful and obviously incredibly talented.  It cost $6 a letter and that includes the frame WITH mountings.

Now the challenge is to find the perfect spot for it in the house...

Teacher Appreciation Round-Up

Okay so this may seem a little vain to show you how much I am loved but these are GREAT ideas.  Ones I will steal when the time comes to make them for Natalie's teacher...AHHH!  Over Teacher Appreciation WEEK I received one of these gifts each day.

Monday- Starbucks card

Inspiration

You have to scroll down on the page a bit.
You can never go wrong with a gift like this.  And the set up is SO cute!

Tuesday- Hand soap

Inspiration

This out of ALL of them made me cry...

Wednesday- Magnets

Inspiration

Sorry for the blurriness...  These are pretty just as decor- even better that they can be used!

Thursday- Cloths pins

Inspiration

You can add magnets on the back and VIOLA magnetic clips!

Friday- Scissors

Inspiration

So cute AND functional!

Thanks Z family for showing me some love!