April 22, 2012

Something For The Birds

It's so much fun hanging out with my little guy. Some of our favorite activities happen in our kitchen {he loves being mommy's little helper}, so this craft project is one that he and I did together.

We have a bag of bread crusts that we are planning to take to the pond near our house to feed the ducks and we decided that perhaps we should share some of it with the birds that we see in the tree in our front yard...enter our homemade bird feeder.



Getting bread and tearing it into smaller pieces for the food processor


Chopping the bread in the processor. I think this was his favorite part. Little boys love pushing buttons, don't they? {hehe}


Bread and birdseed mixed and ready to go


My sister gave me these great cones that she no longer needed. I took a whole punch and punched holes in each side for easy tree hanging


Spread the peanut butter on the cone and roll in the feed mix


Added twine and took it outside to hang it up in the tree

What a fun and simple craft to do with your little one. My son and I had a great time and we certainly hope that our birdie friends enjoyed our gift too!

April 8, 2012

Before Meets After ~ Laundry Room Project

We've been in our house for three years ~ new home, new town ~ and I'm just getting around to decorating some of the rooms.

Our laundry room is very small and this is the first room you enter when coming in from the garage. The rule in our house is that our shoes are left at the door {we have wall-to-wall light colored carpet}, so this space has turned into a "catch-all" for shoes and jackets - not exactly what I envisioned when we moved in.

The clutter was beginning to drive me bonkers, so it was time to do something about it. I originally wanted to paint the space, but I didn't want this project to turn into the 'never ending' project so I took it in another direction - simpler and less time. Here is where the 'before' meets 'after'....



Too many jackets!


I should be ashamed of myself for posting this picture {what a mess...lol!}, but there can't be a proper 'before meets after' without it so here it is


Lookin' good {smile}! I used my Silhoutte machine to create the words and graphics in vinyl, AND cleaned up the jackets


A close-up -- not perfectly straight, but good enough I think


A trip to IKEA and I found this great piece in the children's department and it fits beautifully. I personalized each bucket in vinyl so now no one has the excuse of not putting their shoes away properly

I purchased this cushion for it but I'm not loving it. The colors are what I want to give the space that "pop" of color it needs since I chose not to paint, but the size is still a tad bit too long so back to the drawing board on that one


I love that I'm taking the time to spruce up the place a bit. Honestly, I think it has taken me so long because I wasn't sure how I felt about living here but the longer I'm here the more it's starting to feel like home. Besides, decorating one space at a time is good for the soul {or at least that's what I keep telling myself}!

April 7, 2012

Bunny Garden

We are getting ready for Easter at our house as I'm sure you are at yours. Before time ran out on me, I wanted to get this post in to show you how to create something you could add to your Easter table. I used these for my son's egg hunt party - what a hit!

How to make a bunny garden:



All the supplies needed: one piece of styrofoam {to be cut in half}, one piece of green tissue paper cut into small squares, 6 fence pieces {4 short, 2 long}, spanish moss grass, and chalkboard garden stakes



To get started I used a large knife to cut the styrofoam in half. As you can see, it isn't completely straight {maybe I should have purchased that styrofoam cutter a year ago...lol), looks like my cutting skills need a little help {giggle}


Using Mod Podge and water I applied layers of tissue paper to all five sides of the styrofoam {I didn't worry about the bottom since it wouldn't be seen}


Completely covered


Using yellow acrylic paint, I painted all of the fence pieces {using a hand saw, I cut the two long fence pieces in half}


Using gorilla glue, I glued the fence pieces to the styrofoam


Using tacky glue, I applied the moss grass to the top of the styrofoam


I found these great chalkboard garden stakes in the dollar section of Michaels. Adding the stakes, the bunny and eggs {reused from last year's Easter decor} you have a great bunny garden

A look from the top


What an awesome addition this would make to any table decor. What I love most - it didn't cost more than about $10 to make two of them and as we all know, I love a bargain!

Happy Easter and....

April 6, 2012

A Gift Box

It's time to clean up my craft area. I don't know about others, but my craft space is bursting at the seams with 'stuff'. I've recently made the promise to myself that I will try to limit my purchases and start using that rather hefty mound of craft supplies that is threatening to take over and perhaps swallow me whole {giggle}.

A while ago my sister gave me this great heart shape cardboard box. I completely forgot about it until the other day when I was cleaning my bedroom and found it stashed under my bed. So using some acrylic paint, scrapbook paper, flowers, lace and trim, this is what I came up with.










Perhaps this will make a wonderful end of the year teacher's gift box....just perhaps.

April 1, 2012

A Hoppin' Egg Hunt

I have been excited about doing this party for my son for weeks. After several late nights working on this {and I do mean several}, I woke up the morning of the party to the sound of rain hitting my window and all I could think was "why me"? I was sure that all my hard work was for naught because the rain continued to fall throughout the morning and it didn't look like it was going to stop. Thankfully, the weather changed by early afternoon and that meant it was party time. A quick text to our guests to have the children arrive in their rain boots and we were on our way to a fun afternoon.

Happy Easter and welcome to our 'Hoppin Egg Hunt'!



Our beautiful goody table




Delicious cupcake shooters {shooters purchased from PickYourPlum - don't you just love them!?!}








Our photo prop box. Huge "thanks" to my sister for recreating these carrots (here) for me under such short notice - cute, aren't they?


After collecting eggs and playing an egg race game, the kids traded in their collected eggs for a treat bag




Continuing to create memories for the little prince. Hope you enjoy creating memories for your little ones too!



Special Thanks to:

AndersRuff ~ "Easter Has Sprung" Printable Design Collection
The Celebration Shoppe ~ Free Easter Bunny Printables
Frog Prince Paperie ~ Free Easter Bunny Photo Props

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