Wall decor for boys

I found this darling idea here.

As soon as I saw it, I knew my boys would love it.

It ended up being the gift that the boys made for each other.

My 4 year old painted this canvas black and sprayed it with white paint to make the stars.

I printed out the images and cut them out.  Then I mod podge-ed them on and sprayed it with a final clear coat of spay paint.

My 2 year old loves it!  

Buzz!  Buzz!  That's what I hear every time he looks at it.

I did the same thing on this one.  But I used some red, yellow and white paint to make the laser coming out of the Death Star.

A perfect gift for a Star Wars fan. 
And so easy to make.

Pillowcases and a blanket

I made pillowcases for my boys this Christmas.

They both sleep with their soft blankets laid out on top of their pillows.

So I made them super soft pillow cases!

They LOVE them!

And I made a Buzz Lightyear blanket for my youngest. 

(the oldest already has a Mickey Mouse blanket)

What to do with your old jeans? Aprons!

I had some old jeans lying around, (let's be honest, who doesn't have old jeans lying around?) so I decided to make myself an apron.  

Yes, I made it in the middle of making Christmas gifts for everyone else.  

Very selfish, I know.  Oh well.

So easy to make.  One pair of jeans will make 2 aprons.  Each leg makes one apron.

I folded and ironed material to make my edging.  But if you found some cute wide ribbon, it would be even easier to put your edging on.

I think I will be making more of these soon.

I made this half apron for my sister. 

She owns a bakery and hopefully she can get some use out of it.

While I was making my apron, my son wanted one too.

So I tried to make it look manly.  It's longer than a normal apron would be and it has boy print around the edges.  He loves it.  (even if he won't look at the camera)

Happy New Year everyone!!

Halloween ideas

A few more Halloween ideas for you...

 Our fun pumpkins this year.  A star cruiser... from Buzz Lightyear.  And the Death Star... from Star Wars.

We made 'ghosts in the graveyard' for dessert.  (pudding/cool whip mix with crushed oreos and 'tombstones' for decorations)  Google it... you'll find several recipes to choose from.

The kids love it!

We also do this every year... but I don't have a picture. 

We buy dry ice from the grocery store (get there early... it sells out fast)

and put it in colored water (or just water).

The boys love playing with the 'fog' that comes off of it.

They call it secret potion.

We also use the dry ice to make homemade rootbeer.

Yummy!

Halloween Bags

I'm either a tad late for Halloween 2010,

or I'm really early for Halloween 2011... you pick.  

I made this fun halloween treat bags this year.  

The boys loved taking them trick or treating with them.

They were a lot of fun to make and pretty simple.

I just found a simple bag tutorial online and then added my picture cut outs on the front.

Display your child's schoolwork

I have been taking pictures of my recent projects... but they haven't been making it on here yet.  Over the next few days, hopefully I'll get some of them posted.

I was quickly getting a mound of papers from my son's preschool class.  He was so proud of them, I had to display them. 

So I put them up in his room with a simple wire, a few nails and some clothes line clips.

I plan to take digital pictures of my favorite pieces.  Then I can toss the actual paperwork and always have the artwork in my digital files.

Less clutter for the New Year!

Star Wars cookies

My husband and my son love Star Wars!  They watch the movies all the time.  They even build a fort and call it 'yoda's house' so they can watch the movie in there.  

When I saw these cookie cutters... I just had to buy them.

Yup, they are well worth it!

Noodle Fun!

The other day my son wanted to play with glue. 

So I pulled out some dry noodles... and we played with glue!

We even got out the water colors and added some color to our creations.

Fun and cheap!  Gotta love it.

Father's Day gift idea

Ok, so I'm just a few months late at posting this idea.  But everyone takes the summer off, right? 

Thanks for putting up with us... if you're still out there.  ;)

My boys had a great time making this art piece for Father's Day this past year. 

(I have seen this idea on another blog... but can't remember where... so sorry that I don't have that reference for you)

I had my 4 year old paint the blue background one day.  I just told him that we were painting and set him up with the right colors.  (last year he ended up telling Daddy what the present was before Father's day... I learned my lesson)  Then I put it up to dry and let him continue to paint on paper.  

A few days later I did their hand prints.  A one year old makes it REALLY difficult to get a decent handprint from.  Thus, his looks like he has 6 fingers.  Oh well.  Then I put it up to dry for a few more days.

I took it down to add the finishing touches.  

Then I let the boys help me wrap it right before we gave it to Daddy. 

Jedi Robe

My son loves those hooded bath towels.  And he loves Star Wars. 

So I made him a 'Jedi Robe'.... and he LOVES that too!

(I apologize for the sideways picture, Blogger and I are not getting along today)

I found pictures of an Imperial Walker, the Death Star and R2D2 (at my son's request)... 

cut them out of a cheap white fleece blanket from IKEA that was being ignored in my home and sewed them on the towel.

The hood is a hand towel - cut in half and then sewn on.

Here is my son trying his best to ignore the camera.

He really does love his Jedi Robe.  He wears it even when it's not bath time.

I wonder what type of robe I'll make next... fire fighter?  dinosaur?  pirate?  astronaut?  

The possibilities are endless.  Give it a try.  Your kids will LOVE it!

Fun, easy activity for kids

My son and I made this with a some pipe cleaners a few eyes.

It's a bunny and a turtle... I case you're wondering.  ;)

Cheap entertainment... that's what it's all about some days!

Easter Countdown

A little late for this Easter... but maybe you can do this next year.

My son loves holiday countdowns.
I did a Google Images search and found some Easter Eggs to color.
We cut them out and taped them together.
So easy!

Minnie t-shirts

We just returned from a family trip to Disneyland. We LOVE Disney (a lot)! My nieces hadn't been in a few years so I thought I would do something special for them and my daughter to wear to the park. It was so simple, and they got a ton of compliments (and a TON cheaper than buying shirts in the park)

I found some coordinating fabrics (thanks to Walmart), cut a mickey head shape out of each fabric then ironed it on to some wonder under (fusible fabric). Then ironed them on to the t-shirts. Made a simple bow and hand stitched them on to the shirts and added a button in the middle. I think each shirt might have cost me $6.00 each to make!!

Look how HAPPY and CUTE they are wearing their shirts!

C-A-K-E-S

I was going through pictures on my computer and saw a lot of cakes I have made that never made it on here. Here's some cakes I have made in the past year.

The most recent were these football cupcakes we had for Super Bowl Sunday, I found the picks at the Target dollar section and knew I had to have them and these cupcakes were perfect.

My nieces 1st birthday cake, a VERY easy butterfly cake. With Valentine m&m's, upside down Hershey kisses, and twizzler antenna's
This next one is a picture of Claire's 2ND birthday cake from her birthday party in California
(bought from Albertsons) So I took the pieces home and made it for her actual birthday 2 weeks later and it turned out like.... this.....

My nieces 8TH birthday cake, my favorite part were these candles. I saw them in a magazine a few months ago (can't remember which one, sorry) The 'recipe' says to use the froot loop straws which come in different colors, but we could not find them anywhere. So we settled for golden oreo straws. And gum drops shaped to be the flame. Then frosting drips for the candle wax.

My sister's wedding cake. The top cake was my first homemade fondant experiment. It turned out well until the very end where it ripped in 2 places, so I used 2 bands of the brown ribbon to cover it up.

Basketball cupcakes because my husband is a March Madness freak!!

And this one was such an easy and fun idea. It was for my cousin Josh's wedding, his then fiance told me about the idea and I loved it. I love the top view!

And here's the final product with 200 cupcakes!!

Fire Truck Birthday Party

My baby just turned 1. (where does the time go?!)
We had a fire truck themed party.

I made this banner in Photoshop, printed it out on card stock,
strung it together with thread, and taped it onto candy sucker sticks.
I love how it turned out!

The cupcake toppers were created in Photoshop, printed on card stock and taped onto candy sucker sticks. So easy and a perfect way to dress up a cupcake.

Children's Song Book

I made 2 books for my son today.

The first one is a combination Quiet Book & Song Book...

The cover page just has his name on it with velcro letters that he can take off and put back on.

I only have 2 songs in this book so far... I'll add to it later.
I altered clipart that I found, laminated everything and stuck some velcro on it.

The other song in the book is a song that he is learning in Primary this month.
(This is a great flip chart for the song as well)

The next book that I made is just for songs that he will be
learning throughout the year in Primary.I found the pages here and here.
Then I shrunk them in Photoshop so they would fit two on a page.
Laminated them, cut them and bound them with ribbon.
So easy!

Sneaky treats!

I have a son who is a super picky eater. The only vegtable he will eat is raw carrots. I found this recipe from the book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfield -
knowing that he likes Chocolate - I decided to give it a try.
It was a HUGE success!!

Chocolate Fondue

1 T. trans-fat-free margarine spread (I just used butter)

1/2 c. Avacado Puree

1/4 c. Carrot Puree

1 c. confectioners' sugar

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 t. pure vanilla extract

Sliced fruits, whole berries, or cherries for dipping

Melt the margarine over low heat in a medium saucepan. Add the avacado and carrot purees, sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla, and whisk well until smooth. Serve warm, with fruit.

**A trick I learned while experimenting with sneaky nutrition is that for things like "carrot puree" I just use a jar of carrot baby food - it saves a lot of time.

Homemade Kitchen Playset

My son loves to play with the toy kitchen set every time we walk through IKEA.
But let's face it, he's not going to play with it enough to justify the cost of actually buying him one. So I made him one today.

I took an old moving box and taped it up. Covered it with white butcher paper (doesn't have to be covered with anything... it is pretend after all)
I drew 2 stove burners and 2 knobs on one side of it.


On another side, I drew an oven door, with a knob and a window.
(with yellow for the lighted window...
to which my 3 year old says, "Mom, I can't see through your window"
... pretend dear, pretend)

I flipped the box over one more time and cut out a rectangle to place a small pan into. This is his pretend sink.

He loves it! And it was made in about 30 minutes.

I'm sure it won't last long... but sure beats forking over the cash during the holidays for a toy that he'll ignore in a day or two. ;)

Halloween costume

We never do family themed Halloween costumes. In fact, we usually just dress the boys up. But this year my 3 year old wanted to be a pirate. So bought him a costume from Old Navy.
It is darling. He loves it and wants to wear it everywhere.
Then he wanted Daddy to be a pirate too... and it just spiraled from there.

So what to do for the 9 month old??

Yes, he's my little treasure map!

With brown pants - he's good to go!
Love easy costumes.

Now the task of making my pirate costume less skanky... I bought it at Target, but have to make some serious alterations. Hopefully I'll post pictures of the finished product soon.

Baby crafts!

Here are the remaining baby crafts...

A car seat cover.
Love, love, LOVE mine... so I had to make one for my sister in-law.
The BEST feature is that it opens in the front. That way you can peak on your sleeping darling, without giving them a big gust of cold air.
And during flu season, having a car seat cover is a MUST - keep those babies protected.

This isn't a very good picture... but it's a Pee Pee Tepee!
I've never used one, but have wished that I had several times. ;)
Those baby boys sure do like to spray.

I also made some burp cloths... but apparently never took a picture of them.

Love baby crafts!