He Speaks for the Trees...

My kids are not that into movies, so it is a huge deal when they get excited about one. I was pleasantly surprised when both of my guys gave two thumbs up to The Lorax (Dr. Seuss can do no wrong in my world). So I'm going to surprise them by purchasing the flick on DVD.

Of course I immediately saw this as a crafting opportunity as well! I went back through my craft archives for inspiration and landed on these...

Using the promo picture above as my guide, I roughly cut out the shapes for the Lorax's face using foam paper and hot glued them onto an orange visor. Here's the result...

I'm thinking that my 8-year-old might be past the point of thinking this is cute, but I know that my youngest son will be all in!

DIY Olympic Eyeglasses

My husband and I always get giddy about the Olympics and our enthusiasm has been passed onto our kids. We've already pulled out the world map in anticipation for tonight's opening ceremonies. We're even having fish & chips for dinner to make it feel like we're dining in a London pub. Hokey? Absolutely, but it's what we do.

So I had this great idea to make glasses for the boys to wear during our Olympic viewing party. I first bought some plastic glasses at Dollar Tree...

Then I cut out Olympic rings using foam paper...

Then I removed the foam stickers from the glasses and hot glued my rings onto them - here's the result (front view):

(side view)

And finally I bribed my kids to model the glasses...which ended up costing me as much as I spent at Dollar Tree!

This was a super easy project that required very little effort and very little money - in other words, my favorite kind of project!

Patriotic Dollar Store Find - Part I

I'm part of the reason why dollar stores exist in this country. I get completely caught up when I enter one because everything is so affordable! So the other day I found some red and blue miniature watering cans - is it just me, or does everything look irresistible in miniature form?

I also found some red and blue tablecloth weights...

I combined both of those items together to create a party favor for a 4th of July shindig.

This is super easy to make. I bought three watering cans, one can of white spray paint and sisal twine. Since the watering cans and tablecloth weights only came in blue and red, I spray painted one set white. I then removed the clip from the weight and tied it onto the can with twine. Finally I added some hydrangeas from my garden and that's it!

Stay tuned for more patriotic dollar store finds coming soon!

Almost Famous...

I was giddy with excitement when I received the current issue of FamilyFun Magazine in the mail. Why 'giddy' you ask? Because two of the crafts that I originally created for this little blog are featured in the magazine! Here's the cover of the magazine on newsstands now...



Remember this post featuring the bandana placemat and banner? Here is FamilyFun's take on those crafts...

I simply supplied the ideas and they did all the rest...

So now that I'd been published, I sat patiently waiting for the call from Martha's people. And waited. After three days with no call, I realized there had to be a problem. I went back to the magazine and there it was...THE WRONG BLOG ADDRESS! Well at least that explains why I hadn't heard from Martha yet!

I am completely honored to have been asked to contribute to a magazine that I love! Thanks so much to FamilyFun for the opportunity to become (almost) famous!!

Patriotic Bandanna Wreath Revisited

Last year I created this wreath using red, white and blue bandannas. A couple of days ago I stumbled across another patriotic wreath here that inspired me to recreate the bandanna wreath in that style. Here's the result...

This wreath was super easy to make. I cut red and white bandannas into 3" wide strips and hot glued them onto a Styrofoam wreath. I then glued a blue bandanna onto one side of the wreath. Finally I recycled the bow from the original wreath...

Please check back for more 4th of July ideas coming soon!

Thank You to the Class of 2012!

A few months ago I opened an Etsy shop that sells handmade party decorations. Much like starting a blog, getting found on Etsy has been an incredibly steep learning curve. But I'm happy to say that a few folks have stumbled by and graciously purchased products this month largely due to one thing: Graduation 2012!

Here are a couple of products that I created for the big event - a graduation banner...

and a graduation door sign...

In celebration of reaching 16 Etsy sales and 16 Etsy admirers, I'm having a 16% Off sale! The sale starts tomorrow May 16 and runs through May 31 (which just happens to be 16 days).

To take advantage of the sale, simply enter the following coupon code during checkout: 16PERCENTOFF


Thanks!

Tulip Cake Bouquet

Every year for Mother's Day my kids want to make something homemade for their grandmas. So I typically end up hauling out all of my crafting supplies and letting them go for it. However this year I came across something at the grocery store that I thought would be a really pretty (and edible) semi-homemade gift...

it's a tulip bouquet!

The flower part of the bouquet are actually creme-filled cakes made by Little Debbie. They come in pink too.

I dyed some sweet coconut flakes green for the grass. And then I inserted a bamboo skewer into a piece of green licorice for the stem.

This was super easy to assemble. My kids can't stop asking if it's time to make their real bouquets yet . I hope I get one from them too!