Watermelon Baby Bowl

My extended family recently held a unique baby shower for a sister-in-law whose baby is due in June.  We met over Mother's Day weekend from three different states to celebrate!  We had fun and I have to share my contribution (which wasn't much with all of my other activities lately).  My mother-in-law requested I make one of those watermelon baby bowls that are all over Pinterest.  I tried my best without pictures and this is what I made.  I think it's cute and at least gives a clue!  ;)  Thanks for looking!

Shelby's Party Decor

Okay, okay, I'm guilty!  Almost all of these ideas are from Pinterest....except for the old book pennant "Happy Birthday, Shelby" banner.  But let's be real...how original is that?!  The unique thing about it is that the ribbon came from my grandmother.  I love inheriting craft supplies from my grandma from time-to-time when I'm back home visiting family. 
The giant "1" is made from coffee filters hot glued to a board I cut in the shape of the "1."  Then I spray painted it to give some color and add festivity to the look of it.
My favorite creation below is the crocheted triangle pennant banner in Fall colors.  I am going to save that and use it for an upcoming craft show and also for future Fall décor and/or home decorating in the girls' room.  :)
The doily table runner I hand-stitched together from doilies I either already had or picked up at JoAnn's.  I love the look of it and felt it added to the homemade Fall theme of the party.  The porcelain pumpkins I purchased years ago when I lived in Bakersfield, CA, at a Hallmark store.

I also made some brown paper bag flowers to hang around the room which I thought turned out super cute and fit with my "Autumn" theme for Shelby's party.  We had caramel apples, grapes, sandwiches, hot dogs, chips, vegetables with dip, hot pepper jelly with cream cheese and crackers, and cupcakes flavored pumpkin spice and caramel apple for dessert. 

It's a Circus!

I had the opportunity to plan and host a diaper shower for two ladies at my church.  They have the exact same due date and both are supposed to be having boys!  (I say supposed because another lady at my church was supposed to have a girl and had a BOY on April 1st! No joke!)  It is one lady's 4th baby and another lady's 3rd so I thought a diaper shower was appropriate.  I went with a circus theme because I think I am doing the same for Shelby's first birthday later in September and I wanted to save some money.  :) 

The invitation was this (I made it up!): 

Here are some of the decorations and food that we put out (Thanks, Milana and Collette!):

 

Some of these ideas above were from Pinterest.  The last picture above is of a photo op table where we could "clown" around and take pictures.

 

 

And this was the party favor!  Too cute! (Also from Pinterest!)

 

 

 

Lastly, here is my horrible attempt at a diaper cake.  I've done better...but this was all I could get done before Shelby couldn't take my inattention any longer!!!

 

 

 

 

I love celebrating new babies!  Good luck, Sarah and Layla!!!





Missionary Farewell

We have a dear, sweet friend who is leaving tomorrow to serve an 18 month mission in Ecuador for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We love her dearly and she is like family to us.  She is 21 years old, and for the last 6-7 years has readily babysat our children.  They adore her because she has been so involved and sweet to them.  (She even would attend their ballgames and school events.)
Because of her specialness to our family and others in our local ward church family, many of us wanted to surprise her with a going away party, and luckily, I got to head that party up!  So I really wanted to make it thoughtful presentation and here are the things I did.  I looked up Ecuador and its country flag to mimic and hang up; learned facts about the country and printed them on signs to hang around the room; looked up scriptures related to missionary work to place on the tables; and my kids and I made these cute button bouquets in Ecuadorian colors.  Then I went to the Dollar Tree store and bought matching tablecloths and so on to make up the tables. 
My family and I went the evening before the party and made up a room separate from where we were having another "meeting" on Thanksgiving and being grateful.  But everyone knew that was just a cover for the real celebration, except my sweet missionary friend.  So we began our meeting the following night and had our opening prayer and song, and then we let our friend in on the secret that we had another party in another room prepared just for her!  She was so surprised (which isn't always easy to do!) and she was loving it!

We had had sisters in the church bring pies as a cover for our Thanksgiving theme, so as we played games like fill-in-the-blank for this song:  http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=1&searchseqstart=270&searchsubseqstart= &searchseqend=270&searchsubseqend=ZZZ, and translated Spanish words to English, we ate our pie and socialized and shared our gifts and testimonies of missionary work and Jesus Christ to her.  It was really a special evening, and totally worth the effort.  Thanks for looking and reading all of this -if you have!

Scrabble Coasters

Hello! Things have slowed down a bit after two vacations in three weeks' time so I can post a few projects.

This one I recently finished for my new sister-in-law.  She had a unique outdoor wedding and reception with ideas from Pinterest, and I asked if I could help...from a few states away.  She assigned me the task of making 62 Scrabble coasters to be used as seating markers and guest favors that I could bring to town with me for the occasion.  She gave me this tutorial to follow:  http://www.intimateweddings.com/blog/diy-wedding-ideas-scrabble-coasters-tutorial/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IntimateWeddings-SmallWeddingBlog+%28Intimate+Weddings+-+Small+Wedding+Blog%29  I followed it with the exception that I used wood stain as the alternative (that she lists) to staining the names and I used wood varnish, but not the specific "marine" one the lady lists on her tutorial.  I also purchased all of my scrabble tiles from one supplier on Etsy:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/XOSupplies?ref=pr_shop_more.  She was terrific to work with and a fast shipper!  I will order from her again, for sure!  I bought 1,570 tiles in multiple orders.  The cork I bought in rolls at Target in the office section, and I also bought my wood glue at Target.  The stain and brushes and all of that I had on hand already from past projects.

I had fun making these, although I had to kind of watch the weather to complete them as I am preggers and wanted to make sure I was in a well-ventilated area, a.k.a., the outdoors.  I also wore this awesome mask I have been using throughout my pregnancy (since I discovered my pregnancy, anyway) for every paint and stain project, along with some protective gloves that go to my elbows, and of course, I had on my apron!  Otherwise, this project was simple and fun.  I was careful not to spell out any bad words in the miscellaneous scrabble pieces, or at least I tried!

I think these would make a great Christmas gift or for other type of parties. Thanks for looking!

Pirate Party!

Here are just a couple of things I took pictures of that I made for the party. I made up more stuff/decor, but I forgot to capture it....The bones are from Cricut's Gypsy Wanderings cartridge...and the font is Gypsy Font. It was fun to make this stuff up. They also ate "Skeleton Bones" (fries) and "Crumbed Fish" (my kids hate fish sticks, so we opted for chicken nuggets). Thanks for looking!

Princess Birthday Crown

I recently tried my hand at another princess crown from scratch. This is my second one to date, and I think it turned out markedly cuter than the one I made for Carly's birthday. This one if for a little girl that I babysit occasionally. She just had her 4th birthday, and she's so spunky and full of life! So I knew I had to use some bright colors and a fun, whimsical pattern for her. I found the fabric at JoAnn's. The diamond accent trim along the bottom is also from JoAnn's. The yo-yo accents, frilly fringe, and ruffly border were all handmade by me. I super enjoy the end result of this crown so I am really looking forward to getting more time to make another. Thanks for looking!!!

Cute Valentine's Day Treat for Kids

So I saw this awesome idea here: http://www.lilluna.com/2011/02/food-fun-friday-sweeeet-vday.html (which is much, much cuter than what I came up with) and I adapted it to my own idea of what I wanted to give to the Primary kids at my church. Instead of going to the Dollar Store for the candy, I went to the trusty, old Wal-Mart and found strawberry marshmallows and cherry sugared slices (or gum drop slice candy or something in that form) and then skewered them in a certain order with plain white marshmallows. Of course I cut the sharp tip off the skewer end so hopefully no one will end up with an injury! And I waited until their parents picked them before I handed it out. hehehe I then rolled each skewer up in some plastic cling wrap and tied it off with Valentine's Day holiday ribbons. The whole project cost me about $10. I will probably do these in the future, too, maybe in a different variety. You could also use this idea for birthday parties or other holidays, too. Thanks for sharing, Kristyn @ Lil Luna!!!

Wedding Favor Bags

I also found some patterns for shower and/or wedding favor bags. You can probably also just use one a jewelry bag or for any small things you need to carry in your purse. The ribbon can be customized to your favorite color or wedding celebration color.