A New Dress in Progress

When Savannah saw the butterfly shirt I made for Shaelee, her first question was, where's mine? LOL. So, I am making her a cute butterfly shirt of her own & a matching skirt. For the skirt, I'm using this tutorial. It should be done today ... yeah! :) Although ... what was i thinking using white type fabric & a white shirt for a four year old???

Holy Cow!

Seriously, I was so excited when Ohdeedoh contacted me to do this! I am very, very proud of that little alphabet mural ... mainly because it took so much time & effort to make it! :) If you're looking for the posting, it's here. And the large letter C was from Jo-Ann's & only $8 (I used a 40% off coupon on it.). Thanks for stoping by! :)

How to Make a Candy Lei

I have a fantastic friend who's family is Somoan. She made these for the kids at their preschool graduation, and they are so fun & easy! So when Hunter graduated from Kindergarten, I made him a couple of candy leis (since all the girls mom's were bringing flowers ... and we all KNOW that is NOT cool for a boy). He loved them & of course, the morning of when he saw them begged me to make them for his entire class group (all 60 of them!) ... needless to say that didn't happen. But he did give one away to a special friend & then shared the rest with any friend he could find ... such a sweet boy. :)

**Quick Disclaimer ... I *KNOW* I probably over did it on the instructions ... but let me know if it doesn't make sense.*

For a candy lei, you'll need:

• Small wrapped candies (chocolate ones are always a favorite, but in the Vegas heat they melt too fast!)
• scissors
• curling ribbon
• saran wrap

I have a large kitchen table, so I generally will pull out the plastic wrap to cover the full length of the table (whatever length you pull your saran wrap ... your necklace will be a little less than half that length at the end).

Then lay the candies on two sides of the saran wrap. Lay them very, very close together, if they are too far apart, they will end up falling out.

I was able to fit 20 candies easily on each side. It probably would have been better to have them even closer.

Cut the saran wrap in half now. Straight down the middle & this will make two seperate necklaces for you. When I try & cut it before I place the candy down, the saran wrap pulls up, and gets tangled. The weight of the candy will make it all stay down & easier for you.

Fold the saran wrap in half over the candies.

Cut 5-6" lengths of curling ribbon for the ties on the necklace & then twist the saran wrap around each individual candy. Starting on the second candy, twist & tie the curling ribbon. I usually double tie, just to make sure it's tight. Make sure to twist a couple times each candy, this creates a little wrap around each candy & makes them stay in the necklace safely.Take your scissors & curl each indiviual ribbon. Then, take the two ends, pull them together & twist them around each other. Then tie the ribbon next to the two candies. This will make your necklace stay together better & look more seamless.

Enjoy!!! I hope this makes sense ... let me know if you have any questions! :)

Colton Turns 2!!!

So yesterday my little bubba became a two year old. Holy cow time really does just fly by with kids, doesn't it?!?!? So of course, we broke out the birthday banner and decorated a bit w/ some streamers. Then I had seen this amazing idea for a rainbow birthday cake! PERFECT!!! I halved her recipe and made the perfect sized 6 layer cake, which was fun ... but REALLY time consuming.And I've seen the idea of putting their number on a shirt for them & loved the idea ... someone should explain to him that it was important to smile for the camera ... this was the best shot I got of it (lol)! :) Happy Birthday Colton!!!

The *Joy* of Year-Round School

So my little kindergartener, finally graduated! :) And we have been busily trying to soak up every moment we can of our whole TWO weeks of summer vacation (he starts first grade on Monday).Isn't that the best/worst part of year-round school though? The breaks during the year are nice, but I would MUCH rather have my boy home for a long summer break. And with the summer's so hot here in Vegas, they don't even get to have recess or play time really from mid-May to mid-August!
Anyways, back to the point ... I made ten gumball gifts for all his different teachers. I had seen the idea a long time ago while I was flippin' through blogs and can't remember where now (sorry!). But the saying was, "thanks for chews-ing to teach at Walker Elementary School".

*sorry for the bad picture, we were running really late*

Then I had Hunter sign his name on the back of each one. He was in absolute heaven taking presents to all of his teachers on the last day, and many of the teachers (like music, P.E. & library) were actually surprised to get a thank you gift too. :)

Butterfly Shirt

So one of Savannah's best friends is having a birthday party today. They are actually only one day apart, and she just loves the two sisters ... so I wanted to make something special for Shalee.I whipped up some pants using this tutorial. The pants that I made for 4th of July using the same tutorial have held up really well, except for Hunter's. But he's gotten to that rough & gruff boy stage where he's ripped a hole in every single pair of jeans he owns. Then there is a template for the butterfly shape that I put on the shirt at this blog.

The Fairy Birthday

Woah, it's finally over! It may not look like a lot of work ... but with so many little ones under foot, it really took all of my free time to do this party! :)I bought this digital scrappin' kit and used it for the party invite & to make some cute cupcake toppers. Savannah wanted them to be all the colors of the rainbow ... I made tissue paper flowers and put them all around the house,and arranged butterflies everywhere too (thankfully my Mom was there to help the day prior ... or nothing would have gotten done as easily). A simple sign was made to welcome the girls when they arrived. I enlarged one of the fairies from the digi-kit and made a pin the wand on the fairy game. Large flowers & butterflies were hung from the chandelierMy friend Lacie found a great website for the fairy wings & pre-made wands. And I made the tutu's using this tutorial (although it would have been cheaper to buy them with the fairy wings). Jedi/Elf Robes were made for the two boys using a robe pattern.She was in absolute heaven having her friends over to play & celebrate her birthday with her. They didn't seem as interested in the games I had planned, but just playing on the swing set. And now, thank heaven! It's done!