Monkey-ing Around

I was so excited to do this craft.  Not only was it for a fellow teacher, but it was going to be for my son's former first grade teacher.

Ms. J.W. is simply awesome.  She is young, vibrant and innovative and loves what she does.  She is structured and loving, just the right combination for a first grade teacher.  My son loved her and we were grateful for the amazing year he had under her instruction.  You remember my best customer Thasha?  This year her daughter is in Ms. W's class and believe me when I say they were overjoyed to get her as well.

One of the activities that Ms. W. does in her class to encourage writing skills is to have the children take home the class mascot 'Marvin the Monkey' for the weekend.  The children include Marvin in their weekend plans and they journal everything that happens.  Well over the years Marvin {and the bag he is carried in} has been loved by many, but so many trips to the homes of friends has left his bag a little worn.  Thasha and the other class mom decided a great birthday gift would be to give Marvin a new bag filled with Ms. W's favorite goodies.

After getting help from the little prince on which Silhouette file to use, I got to work on creating a new bag. I got lucky and bought the last bag Hobby Lobby had in stock and placed an order to Expressions Vinyl for the brown and cream htv that I would need.

I had to separate the file into pieces based on color.  Most of the monkey will be brown with a few cream and black pieces.  The words will be white.

The bag ready to be designed.

It is important when using a cut file with as many pieces as this one that you pay close attention to how the pieces go back together, particularly if you plan to use htv like I did.  I checked and re-checked the file before putting down each piece.

HTV is a wonderful medium to use.  It layered each piece with ease.  I was concerned that I might have trouble with it becoming "sticky" or peeling off due to repeated heat in an area but it held up beautifully.

How adorable is he!?!  I was so pleased with how well this turned out and I waited anxiously to hear how Ms. W felt about her gift.  I didn't have to wait long, Thasha sent me a pic of her loving her new bag {and goodies}.

Happy Birthday Ms. W and happy traveling Marvin!

All Wrapped Up

When you think of cheerleading, what does that bring to mind?  Cute little girls in their uniforms performing massive acrobatic stunts and perfectly choreographed routines?  Yup, that's what I envision too.  But I've recently learned that there is a place for a craft lady like me in cheerleading...behind the scenes.

My fav customer's daughter is a part of a local cheer squad and they have kept me quite busy this cheer season.  Originally the plan was to blog each thing I did for them, but let's be honest here -- most of my crafts happen after 9pm so the idea of getting them completed on time, staging and taking pictures AND getting up a blog post was way too overwhelming for me.  So I decided to do one post with pics of the items I did.  *Warning:  Poor picture quality*  Late night crafting means I forgo the Canon for my phone camera and pray for a good result (don't judge).

Here is my season with the Cheer Jewels all wrapped up!

These are the awesome cupcake toppers.  After each competition (monthly), the girls receive a 'cheer' inspired goody bag.  A couple of the bags included cupcakes topped with these personalized toppers.

February was all about "love".  Red, pink and white M&M's in candy containers that I purchased from Pick Your Plum were included in the bags.

Year end girls' gift - a framed group picture.  I hand painted each one with the squad's colors and a megaphone then used vinyl for the name.

The end of season card made for the two coaches -- each girl signed {forgot to take a pic...again, don't judge}

The ultimate coaches gift - a spa basket which included a luxury spa gift card to a well known local spa, monogrammed spa robes and several goodies from The Body Shop.  The assistant coaches (two high school students) received a mani/pedi at another local establishment.  Oooh-la-la!

What fun it's been this season helping out behind the scenes for the Cheer Jewels.  Now it's time to sit back and relax...that is until next season!


UPDATE:  My customer sent me a forwarded messages from the head coach.  Here is what she had to say  "I'm not sure who all helped put the basket together so please pass along to whomever.  I just wanted to say how awesome the whole basket was.  The Cheer Jewel card is adorable!!  The robe is my new best friend and the lotions and shower gels are heavenly!  Thanks again for all the time and work it took to put that together.  Very nice!!!"

And this is why I do what I do!  This note has had me smiling for over an hour.  I'm so happy that they are happy -- SCORE!

Wordless Wednesday #4

Chic Drink Stand

As we prepare to do some renovations on our backyard, I've been thinking about colors and how to decorate our new patio space.  The truth is, I wish that we had the budget to buy all new furniture and accents but I know that's not possible.  Time to think of ways to make a chic, beautiful and relaxing space on a budget.

While we wait for the rain to stop {Is there a monsoon season in the south?} so our concrete contractor can get here to lay the slab for the backyard patio, I've decided to begin our design with some simple accents.  This one has been on my radar for almost a year and I finally got around to getting it done -- my chic drink stand.

I began this project with a trip to Lowes.  I found a 6 x 24 board used for playground equipment - perfect size for what I needed.  From there I headed over to find the tiles that would fit on top.  The tiles are basic kitchen/bathroom tiles {sorry, forgot to take a pic of them}.  The wooden balls I purchased at Hobby Lobby knowing they would make great legs.

I spray painted each piece in a flat black paint.  I love how you can still see the grain of the wood.

At this point, I needed to enlist the help of my knight and shining armor to attach the handles.  He is much better with power tools than I am and his attention to detail would ensure that the handles would be put on properly, something I was a little worried about if left to do this part on my own.

Measuring to make it even and to make the holes line up for drilling

Oh how I love a man with power tools!

Using my Silhouette machine, I found two great flourish designs that I loved.  One of them I also used on the Doll Club Cards.  I cut two of each design using vinyl and placed them on each of the tiles.

Vinyl transfer on each tile

The colors I want for our outdoor space are turquoise, coral and pale yellow.  We tend to shy away from color -- a habit I'm trying to break.  I chose a great turquoise acrylic paint and used a foam stamping brush to "stamp" the paint on each tile.  I wanted the texture and the more 'uneven' look of the paint on each one.

Stamping over the tile and vinyl

Completely covered 

TIP: Remove the vinyl while the paint is still wet to keep it from messing up the design.

Removing the vinyl carefully

I measured {you can see a faint pencil line} to make sure that I put the 'legs' in the right place and attached each one using Gorilla glue.

Remember that tip I just gave?  Well, let me show you what happens if you don't get all of the vinyl off when the paint is still wet...ugh!  I considered redoing the tile but decided against it.  I think it gives it character, so it stays {truth: I was too lazy to do it again...LOL!}.  I attached each tile using Gorilla glue as well.  I didn't measure the space for the tiles, just gave it a good eyeballing {Is that a real word? Guess it is now...lol} to make them even on the board and let them sit for half a day to set before moving the stand.

Dried paint is NOT your friend!

I'm so proud of the way this turned out.  An accent that will not only be cute but functional and of course we all know how important cute is!

Where we like to party!

A Little Note Holder

I have recently been working on making my crafting area the space that I really want {promise to show pics as soon as it's done}.  I began about a month ago organizing the mounds and mounds of craft supplies that I have.  After finding myself in a pile of ribbon, scrapbook paper, rolls of vinyl and about a million other things, I found two little wood plaques that forgot I purchased or even what I purchased them for...lol.

Deciding what to do with them was pretty easy.  I looked around at the supplies I had and quickly picked out some scrapbook paper, spray paint and headed straight to my Silhouette machine.

Look at the fab little note holders I whipped up!

Now, back to craft space renovation.  Stay tuned and in the meantime....

Year End Gift

March is here.  The arrival of this month not only means Spring is just around the corner, but it also means that I only have a couple months left of preschool before the end of the year.

Each year, I challenge myself to come up with the perfect end of the year gift for my class.  Two years ago, each one of my little friends left with a book all about their year in preschool complete with pictures of them having loads of fun.  Last year, my budget was smaller so I had to come up with something that would have meaning for each child but wouldn't break my bank.  I decided to use Pinterest and search through the hundreds of pins I have to come up with an idea and I found something that worked well and cost me roughly about $1.50 per student {score}.

Cute as a button, right??  And it was so simple to make as well.  The list of supplies needed are below:

Unfinished wood board to use as the frame

Ribbon -- thin green organza and a wider white organza

White thumb tacks

Light green acrylic paint

Gray vinyl

Mod Podge {matte}

Clear acrylic spray paint

Picture of your choice in 4x6

Step 1:

Print your picture on matte photo paper {gloss paper will not work for this}.  I found that using a laser printer works better than an inkjet; it's less likely to have the colors run or ruin the picture altogether.

Step 2:

Paint the wood with acrylic paint; let dry for at least an hour

Step 3:

Using Mod Podge, cover the entire back of the photo and place it on the wood frame.  I initially smoothed it out using my fingers but then used my crafting roller to smooth out any additional bubbles.  Let this set for about 30 minutes to an hour.

Step 4:

Once it's dry, cover the front of the picture with Mod Podge.  I covered not only the picture but the frame as well.  I used my crafting roller to smooth out any bumps and bubbles then let it dry.

Step 5:

Once the picture was dry, I spray painted it with a clear acrylic spray paint to give it a nice shine then added the white thumb tacks on the corners.

Step 6:

Time to add a little more flare.  I created the little top-knot bow using both the green and white organza ribbons and attached them to the top with hot glue.

Step 7:

Using my Silhouette, I took my gray vinyl and cut out the year and placed it on the bottom

Viola!!  A finished product that is sweet and was hopefully a beautiful keepsake for each of my families.  Now the pressure is on to figure out what I'll do for them this year.  Stay tuned...this should be good!

Where we like to party!

Big Boy Bed Hack

When it was time to get the little prince his new "big boy" bed, we took a trip to Ikea to look for something that would work for his small room {also because I simply adore that place!}.  My little guy fell in love with a bed that he affectionately termed his 'ladder bed' but the rest of the world knows as bunk beds - haha!

He loves his new bed.  I've been working on creating an inviting space for him but wasn't sure what I would do with the bed until I found this bed on Pinterest from Ikea Hackers.  Sold!  Now I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Welcome to The Blue Note Club!

His new hideaway

Can't have a club without customers, right?

The easy part of this hack was putting up the vinyl, thanks to my Silhouette machine.  The hard part - creating those curtains.  I'm not sure if I've said this before but let me say it now -- I HATE sewing!  I don't like doing it and I'm horrible at it and let's not even get me started on what happened when I tried to use the sewing machine - Oy vey!

I found the material at Hobby Lobby.  It's fleece and though I would have preferred a cotton material {which for the record has to be easier to sew than fleece...just saying}, I couldn't pass it up since it had all the music notes on it...so cool!

If you look close enough {please don't...haha} you can see that they are slightly uneven and a little too long.  This is a problem that will be tackled later, but for now it works and my son is happy with it.

He also needed new bedding since we had been using his baby blankets to cover him up at night.  So for Christmas, we bought him musical themed sheets and a comforter set.

Rock and Roll

Close-up - cool, right?

I found the sheets on Amazon.com, Egyptian cotton and they feel amazing and cost only $20 -- so worth it! Now I just had to find a great comforter set that wouldn't break the bank.  Walmart to the rescue!  $30 and this will complete the bed...Yippee!!!

Rockin' pillow sham

Love the guitar!

He is so happy and that makes me happy.  Now to figure out how to sew a hem on those dang curtains....


Where we like to party!

Christmas Countdown

Christmas truly is the most wonderful time of the year!  I love everything about the holiday - the cooler weather, the decorating, the time with family and friends - simply everything about Christmas makes me happy.  Now that I'm a mom, I love experiencing the holiday through the eyes of my son -- his excitement is contagious!

Anyone who knows my son knows that he has a love for numbers {I see a math whiz in the future}.  Now that he's older and in "big school" I thought a great way to gear up for Santa's arrival would be with a countdown calendar.  There is nothing like the nearly unbearable anticipation as you wait for the big day {and hopefully big presents} counting down to the magical moment when Santa visits.  Here is our countdown to Christmas....

I began this project by using a wood tile board that I bought from Walmart a while back.  I thought these would make great craft projects for the future so I bought three of them, one I used on my It's Fall board.  As it is with many of my crafts, I try to use what I have on hand (if at all possible) so this craft project didn't cost me a thing {dancing a little 'two step'...lol}!

I painted the base red, the frame green and seven of the tiles in a creamy white.  The remaining two tiles I spray painted with black chalkboard paint.

Searching through my craft supplies I found a can of glitter spray paint.  I thought since this is a Christmas craft why not add a little sparkle.  I've never used this product before so I had no idea how it would turn out.  The spray was a little uneven so there are places that are a little more "sparkly" than others, but I think it adds character to the board, don't you?

I wanted to add words to it so I pulled out the vinyl and my Silhouette machine and got to work.   Seriously, buying the Silhouette was the best investment I've ever made in my crafting.  I don't think I could love anything {inanimate that is} more than I do this machine...haha.  I also decided to design one of the squares into a Christmas tree using felt and the other into a gift using ribbon and a button.

With a little hot glue on the back of each well placed square, I have my finished Countdown to Christmas board hanging and ready for use!

Note: I took my son's chalkboard eraser and "erased" over the two chalkboard squares before writing on them in order to keep the numbers from making a permanent mark.

Now we are ready and I for one can't wait for the big day {as it also happens to be my birthday!}  Here's hoping you and your family have a great countdown to Christmas.

Linking up with these great parties: