Halloween Sweet Treat

Are you scrambling around trying to come up with a fun treat to send with your little one to school for their Halloween/Fall party? My best customer found herself in such a bind and contacted me for some help. Thanks to Pinterest and its 'Pin-spiration', I was able to find several ideas to show her and she chose this cute little treat.

Pumpkin Treat from Parenting.com

To create these all you need is orange tulle, orange candy {we chose candy pumpkins due to the cost of orange jelly beans....very expensive, who knew!?!}, and green pipe cleaners. After cutting the tulle to size, each one was filled with ten pumpkins apiece {yes, I counted them out...giggle}, tied closed with string and wrapped with a pipe cleaner. I decided to add the little "leaf" effect as well. Using my computer, I created a tag to attach to each one -- easy peasy!

Cute, simple and fun! If you need a quick solution be sure to try this one.

Little Blue's Room is having fun at these linky parties:

Homework Station

A trip down Pinterest lane and I found some wonderful inspiration to help me with the organizational wall I wanted to add to my kitchen. With the little prince entering Kindergarten this year, I have been inundated with papers of all sort from his school and the pile was beginning to grow {and he started just over a week ago...lol}. I decided that I needed something to help keep me ahead of the game - enter our 'Homework Station'.

First, let me show you a couple examples that I found on Pinterest that I loved instantly:

This great organizational wall was pinned from One Creative Housewife

Here is another from A Bright Idea {sorry, still trying to find the correct link}


After seeing these, I knew this was exactly what I wanted to do to stay organized this year but I needed to find something that would work for the small wall I had in mind. Pinterest wasn't my only inspiration, I found two other ideas flipping through the Pottery Barn Kids magazine.



This idea struck me right away and I knew I wanted to incorporate this into the design


When I saw this, my eye was immediately drawn to the bungy board -- another element that was a "must add"

Of course being the frugal shopper that I am and living on a pretty strict budget, I knew that purchasing the items from Pottery Barn Kids was completely out the question but that didn't mean I couldn't create my own! The art clip board shown above costs $39, I was able to create it for just $8.50 thanks to Michaels -- unfinished wood board for $7.99 with a 50% off coupon and the oversized clothes pins for $1.50 each found in their dollar bin section {the paint I had at home}. The knock-off bungy board {PBK cost ~ $35} was a bargain too thanks to Michael's -- two canvases at BOGO free with a 40% off coupon for a total price of about $5 {antique white grosgrain ribbon I had on hand}.

Love my versions!

A look at the "Before" and "After":

I am simply overjoyed with the way this turned out! All of the design elements that I wanted and the best part - it's functional and cute {and well we all know how important cute is!}.

Linky Parties where we have fun!

Back to School

This week I witnessed the end of one era and the beginning of another as I prepared my little guy for his first day of Kindergarten!

Though he has been ready for this for about a year {LOL!}, I still can't believe how FAST this time has come. I was a proud mama as I watched him enter the school and his classroom with the confidence of someone who has been doing this for years. After wiping away a few tears, I gave myself a "pat on the back" for a job well done in helping to instill in him a sense of wonder, curiosity and a desire to learn as he begins his educational career outside of our home.

Of course an occasion such as this requires some "craftiness" {giggle}. The blogsphere is filled with so many cute 'back-to-school' crafts but the one I love and found to be pretty simple was the "First Day of School" printable {I've found our new school tradition}. The Goodwill frame required just a little wood glue on the corners and I changed the original matting out for a more simple single mat. Using my Silhoutte machine, downloadable free fonts and vinyl, I created the lettering.

I LOVE it! It was simple and only took me about an hour to create and now I have something that will see us through high school! Here's hoping your child(ren)have an AWESOME first day of school too!

Welcome Baby!

A friend/co-worker is expecting her second child, a baby girl, and what a wonderful blessing. Yes, having a baby is a blessing by itself but for this wonderful lady and her husband it was a long road to get here. She asked me if I could make something for her to help welcome her baby to the world -- well of course! A reason to craft AND to celebrate...I'm ALL over this like stripes on a zebra {giggle}!

Check out the wreath that I created that will hang on her delivery room door then find its permanent home hanging over the crib!

I love the miniature tutu that I made to go in the center of the ribbon...what do you think?

The tiles were originally blue, red and yellow. With some sandpaper {and a little elbow grease...lol}, I was able to remove the paint and repaint in the baby's colors. The tiles are magnetic and can be removed to put on the fridge at a later date.

Baby feet covered in zebra print paper and a beautiful flower to top it off

Welcome baby Aliyah -- you are already loved beyond measure and I can't wait to meet you!

Sharing creative inspiration at these linky party:

Happy 5th Birthday Little Prince!

My little guy is FIVE!!! Wow, where DID the time go??? He's such a cool kid and I enjoy making his birthday as special as I possibly can. This year I decided that he wouldn't have the large birthday party that he's had in the past but instead something a little more intimate. He was only told that we were inviting his buddy Jack and his family over for cake, which I think bothered him on some level because he kept asking why we weren't having a party in our backyard {oh sweetie, there will be something in the backyard I'm just not telling you about it (snicker)}.

A few months back he asked if he could go camping. Seriously kid, have you met me?? I only like nature from my window, not being out in it! But the request gave me an idea. Why not offer him a simple "camping" experience for his birthday. So I set out to put together an awesome camping adventure and I'm happy to say I succeeded.








Are you wondering about the shark cake and how that ties into a 'camping' theme? He decided that he just didn't want cupcakes for his birthday this year {I knew it would come to an end sooner or later (smile)} and asked me to make him a shark cake. Once again, have you met me? I know that I craft but I have absolutely no baking skills outside of the "unwanted cupcakes" I usually make, so my good friend has a neighbor who is amazing in a kitchen with a cake pan and she graciously fit me into her busy schedule to create this for my little guy -- she did an awesome job.

Happy Birthday our sweet prince ~ Mommy and Daddy love you!!