Valentine's Day Already?

I know it happens every year, but I was completely unprepared for Valentine's Day this time. Last week I kind of acknowledged that I should start preparing things when the V-Day class lists came home from school. However it wasn't until yesterday morning when my youngest son asked me what he was handing out that I really started to panic. Thank God for all of the crafty people out there who graciously share their creative ideas on the net! I did a quick search and stumbled upon an adorable idea for a V-Day card here.

So, here is my attempt at what I'm calling a Cupid Ninja Tootsie Pop Card.
I used the following materials - Tootsie Pops, white tissue paper, tape and red raffia ribbon.

I found a free image of a flying ninja on the internet and printed it on cardstock paper (I modified the image to remove the head). I then folded the paper in half and punched a 3/4" hole along the crease where the head would be...

Finally I printed out some eyes on label paper and put the whole ninja together. Here's the result...

Oh wait, did I mention that I started constructing these at 9pm last night and that I had to make 40 of them? And yes, it took forever!

I hope you were more prepared for this day than I was. Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

2012 Top Ten List

Okay I know we're already 5 days into the New Year, but I thought it would be fun to see which posts made the top 10 list for 2012. So please bear with me as I take a quick stroll down memory lane.

#10 - Patriotic Wreath

#9 - Easter Egg Magnets

Last Minute DIY New Year's Day Hostess Gifts

My family is going to a New Year's Day brunch party tomorrow, so I had to come up with an idea (or two) for a hostess gift. Despite the fact that I've known about the party for well over a week, I somehow waited until the last minute (TODAY) to pull something together. So, here are a couple of DIY gifts that don't take too long to assemble and won't break the bank!

Gift Idea #1: Single Serve Mimosas
I thought it would be cute to give do-it-yourself individual mimosas to the party hostess. Here's what you need...

One 12 oz bottle of Orange Juice

One 187 mL bottle of Champagne

One plastic champagne flute

One small box - I got this one from Hobby Lobby

I padded the box with some fabric scraps and printed out a label for the interior...done!

Gift Idea #2: Coffee, Coffee, Coffee
I'm a Dunkin Donuts coffee girl, so I am sharing the love with the party hostess. I thought it would be fun to come up with a unique card to accompany the coffee. All you need to create the card is hot glue, coffee beans...

and (according to my oldest son) a bad sense of humor...

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year's!

Heading South for the Winter...

I am completely in denial that November is over - it went by way too fast!

On the contrary, I'm guessing that turkeys are letting out a collective sigh of relief and excitedly hanging up their feathers until next Thanksgiving...

Monopoly Moguls in Training

My family recently joined an organization called Jack & Jill of America that provides amazing social and educational programming for African-American children. Each month parents have the opportunity to plan and execute themed activities for the kids. Last weekend I helped create a finance-themed event for my oldest son's group. Fortunately I was paired with a mom named Loren who literally bleeds creativity. She came up with the brilliant idea of teaching financial literacy through the use of a human monopoly game. We created a life-sized game board and the kids (in teams of two) were the game pieces. One team member was responsible for the money and the other held the deeds as they moved around the board. I'll jump to the punchline and tell you that the kids had an absolute blast playing the game! Here are some of the pics from the event...

Loren is the owner of a stationery company called Statianery, so needless to say she created all of the printed products for the event. Those products included:

Invitations...

Personalized Wallets for each child...

Life-sized Dice...

Water Bottle Labels...

Food Signs (the kids had to "buy" their own lunch)...

Custom Monopoly Money...

I had the pleasure of creating monopoly-themed centerpieces for the event. Those centerpieces included:

Monopoly House and Hotel Game Pieces...

Mr. Monopoly...

Various Monopoly Game Pieces...

In addition to playing the monopoly game, we also reviewed financial concepts and handed out this interactive booklet that has great activities about money for kids.

I would definitely recommend the human monopoly game for both kids and adults!

Halloween Cat Lantern

With Halloween only two weeks away, my youngest son suggested that I make (and I quote) "one of those holiday lantern animal things". Here are my previous attempts at an Easter Bunny, Easter Chick and Thanksgiving Turkey. I decided to let my little guy choose which animal I would do and he threw out a black cat. So, at my son's request, I present a Halloween Black Cat Lantern...

I hope he likes it!

Better Late Than Never...

So, a couple of years ago I promised to post templates for these Halloween plates that I made...

...but, unfortunately, that never happened. Sorry! However, someone recently asked me about the templates, so I felt compelled to make good on my promise.


Just click on the links below and print the templates. I used foam paper to cut out the shapes and then attached them to 9" round plates using hot glue.
 

Monster Plate Template
 

Bat Plate Template

Ghost Plate Template (top)    
Ghost Plate Template (bottom) 

 



Linking up to: