Merry Mail!!!

I am sure I fall into the small percentage that actually still sends and loves to receive Christmas Cards. I make mine. And I love every one I make. Receiving cards has diminished, but I still love the few we get.

Every year my husband and I haggle over what to do with them. Traditionally, we wither set them up somewhere and they get knocked over several times a day, or we tape them to the door jam, but with so few that looks silly.

So this year, I pinterested and found an idea that was cute, functional and user friendly.

Here is my final product. The paper and decals were from Echo park, (the background piece is paperstudios), and the snowflake is K and Company, and last but certainly not least, is the bling, which came from G Studios. (side-note, I did NOT make the stocking)

Merry Christmas season to those who celebrate, and to those who don't, this is still a great idea for your cards! :D

Lego my party!

Finally on the home stretch before Noah's 6th birthday party. This has been so much easier to do than last year's Angry Birds party. Can we talk about how frustrating it was to have to fabricate literally everything last year and then to see this year every kind of party supply you can imagine including pinatas? So frustrating. Should have waited a year. ::sigh::

Since we didn't, I suppose I should move on and stop being angry about it....

So this year, Noah is soooo into Legos. He is above and beyond amazing at building any and all age range of Lego sets, and has an amazing imagination and can build some amazing things on his own.

So after scouring the internet for days and days, I decided to go ahead and make most of the party supplies myself this year. Most of the things they sell are specifically for Lego City or Lego Star Wars. I wanted more of a generic, Lego Theme. So, create I have.

I found lots of neat things on Pinterest that were free printables and that was a big help. I was able to print these masks:

Of course, I had to cut them out and assemble them, but what's a little hand cramp? lol 

I also found these printables for the centerpieces and cupcake toppers. 

So I wanted cool treat bags, and after I bought the Lego Party boxes and realized that the only things in the box were the invites, thank you cards and the Lego men (which, IS pretty awesome) I decided I needed to make bags, and I wanted them to be unique and fun. So, I went to the dollar tree and bought 2 packs of yellow bags and drew a different Lego guy face on each one. 

For the insides, there are SO many cool treats. I am kinda jealous, honestly. So, at World Market I found "bulding bricks" candy, that seriously tastes and smells amazing. Years ago I won a Lego scrap-booking set and I have been hoarding it like a good little papercrafter for just this moment, so I was able to make little toppers for the bags of candy. 

I also spent a day and a half preparing for and making Lego Man crayons with the Lego Man ice mold we got from the Lego store. 

Also, from the lego box party sets we have these super cool birthday lego men. Srsly awesome. 

My husband graciously printed, cut and stapled these coloring books that can be used with the crayons. This was another free printable that I found. The only stickers we were able to find with more than one sheet to a pack were Lego Star Wars, which suits us fine. Noah was introduced to Star Wars this summer and loves it. 

I am a HUGE fan of photo booths at parties. I srsly love it. I used wrapping paper and a school project board to make the backdrop. Then I made the props. 

My dear, darling husband spent several evenings making plaster lego guys so the kids can paint them and take them home. He attached strong magnets to the back. Its going to be a fun, messy project. 

Theses are the name tags that came with the box party set. I am writing the child's name on them as I get the R.S.V.P. Not sure if the kids will use them? But they are there. They are sturdy plastic, not paper, so they can be kept for awhile.  

I made a pinata. Whether or not it will actually bust apart remains to be seen. One of the Lego circles is completely off base. As my husband lovingly pointed out, its going to be bashed in, so who cares??? I used the box that my husband's amazing R2 D2 robot box. I kind of punched some perforations in a few areas of the corners just in case it was too thick. It really IS a thick, sturdy box. I cut a Quaker grits container into 4 circles. I used red wrapping paper and crepe paper to cover the circles. The box is covered with 2 layers of crepe paper and I attached those layers with hot glue. Got an awesome blister on one of my fingers too. Love to hate hot glue, lol. The box is filled with 2 bags of pinata goodies that I found at Walmart. Candy, gum and plastic toys. 

There will also be a coloring table. Cause that's how I roll. 

And a guess how many jar. There are different sizes and shapes in the jar to make guessing more challenging. The prize is going to be a mystery figurine. 

I hope you enjoy this preview and for those thinking of having a lego party, I hope it gave you some inspiration. Here is the link to my pinterest board as well. I will be posting these things there, and there are links to printables and different neat ideas that I decided not to use because of time. Thanks for checking it out!!

Happy Early Thanksgiving!

Yes, I am aware that its still almost a month away. However, my son has a Thanksgiving party next Friday and they are invited to dress up as a Pilgrim or an Indian. Of course, Noah wants to be an indian and since he outgrew his kinda tacky outfit that I made for him last year (he grew FOUR inches PLUS this last year?!?!) I made him a new one with all of my new fancy sewing skillz. Yes. I have skillz. I used all reclaimed fabrics from different places and trim that was shared with me last year. The fringe is remnant minky fabric from walmart.  After several hours of cutting and sewing, it was finished...and low and behold, when Noah tried it on....it FIT!

So, happy over eating, family fun, parade/football day!!! Yay Merica!

He was a sk8ter boy...

I love it. I love being mom to a kid that skates, rides a two wheeler and is dying to learn to use roller blades. Its so fun! I honestly thought, before I was a mom, that I wouldn't be able to handle (nerve-wise) having an active boy, but quiet the opposite is true. It makes me smile to see him try new things and be adventurous. And he is usually extremely smart about it as well. He rarely takes unnecessary risks.

So, without further ado, the one page I was able to complete today:

I apologize for the lack of photo quality. Its a phone pic. But it does it okay justice. I used tulle and white and black ink to add some texture to the letters, flags and the sentiment. It was fun. A little tearing, and a little sewing, and it was finished. My goal in my pages is to embellish the pictures. Not to overpower them. I wish I could be all flowery like some of the beautiful pages I see, but now that I am further into my crafting I have decided that having my own style is a good thing. I hope you enjoy!

Christmas Cards!!!

So, contrary to my other posts, I have been paper crafting as well. I have been trying very hard to get Christmas cards under control, but I have also been planning a 6th birthday party for my guy, so its a balance. Something I seriously can't stand is making the same card over and over. I know it seems like it would be easier, but I get so bored. So, this year? There is going to be variety. Lots of variety.

So here they are, in no particular order. I used markers and watercolor pencils for my color mediums.

Anyone else planning to do December Daily this year? I am almost half way done with making my book. I can't wait to show it off. It really is pretty. I just want it to be finished with I show it off. I will do my best to keep posting more often. I think twice a week I will have it on my calendar. Then I have no choice. Haha. I WILL PREVAIL! Seriously. Cause I miss you guys, and I miss crafting more often. So, happy almost Christmas...er...thanksgiving? haha. 

Happy Halloween!

I don't know about you, but I have so much fun at halloween. Love letting Noah pick out his costume, and lately, been loving picking out my own.

This year, Noah watched the 4th and 5th episodes of Star Wars and wanted nothing more than to be Luke Skywalker with Yoda on his back. Awesome. He's so cool. Love this kid.

OKay. Now, more about me. Baahah. So, as almost all of you have to know by now, I LOVE Doctor Who. Like. For realz. So, Sunday night I was stressing because I had nothing to wear since all 3 of my costumes shrunk. Not sure how they ALL managed to be too small. Hmmm. lol 

So, Sunday night Noah and I made the trek to Goodwill and found the perfect blue dress. Well, perfect...if you like mumus. So I sized it down, took a foot off the bottom, and then cut out my windows, learned to print on fabric, used a lil heat bond, and viola. I was a TARDIS. Well...almost. I had to have a hat, right? Gotta have the light!! So I took a magnetic craft container I had on hand, wrapped it in blue fabric, and cut the window panels and hot glued it all together onto a headband. NOW, I was ready to trick or treat. 

Needless to say, we had a blast. Thanks, Opry Mills! Mmmm...candy....Oh...maybe THATS why I can't fit my other costumes....lol

Blankie

Hi! So its been forever. I have been crafting some, but haven't had time to sit down and post so I am going to catch up today.

As most of you know, I have an adorable son who is about to turn 6, and much like his daddy, is a geek about his tee-shirts. Guess its our fault. We started him young. His says "I void Warrenties"

So, thanks to pinterest, I found an idea (several, actually) to preserve those tees withouth worrying about storing them in a box for the next 20 years. Now, I don't have mad skills with a sewing machine, but straight lines...I can mostly handle that. So, I spent many hours cutting Tee-shirts into squares, finding the perfect material for a backing, and all the other items I needed. 

It was super fun. I only made one minorly fixable mistake when I was cutting the backing. Thank heaven I bought twice the material I needed, haha. I also learned that jersey material is terrible to try to sew to a non-jersey material. But lesson learned...I think...

So here it is. I'm kinda proud of it. :) 

Stay snuggly! Be back later with some other posts!!