Splish Splash Welcome to a Birthday Bash!

This entire summer my son has asked for a pool party for his 8th birthday. I think I had a little too much fun with the decorations and the puns! The sign was made from a cabinet door, spray painted... then vinyl :)The food was a hoot to put together. I had a blast coming up with all the different names of things...
Blue jello with swedish fish in the bottom made cute kiddo pools.And of course, what is a pool party with out pool water?I used yellow salt water taffy. Microwaved it (thank you Michelle) for 4 seconds and shaped it into shark fins!With all this preparation... I couldn't very well have the giveaways be lame. So... instead of giveaways, I purchased a white towel and embroidered each boys name on them. The boys thought it was the coolest thing EVER! One kid asked me if he could keep his towel. I told him that I didn't want a towel with his name on it. He just looked at me funny and got back in the pool!This is what the towels look like when the pool is full with kids! I think this is my favorite pictures... well... besides the one with all the boys in their swimming trunks!
Happy Birthday ETHAN! What a good group of kids!

Boy Birthday Party Invitations

My son, Ethan's 8th Birthday Party is on Tuesday. Which means... lots to do! My list seems to be longer than humanly possible, even for a oober super mom! I will do my best (ha! I am already a boy scout mom!) With a list this long... we have to start somewhere... so INVITATIONS it is!
I love love love to use my sewing machine to do the stitching on cards and invitations. Don't worry... invitations went out last week. I am just blogging about it now!I "borrowed" the Stampin' Up cupcake. I downloaded the catalogs (pdf), zoomed in on the cupcake, copied it, pasted it into Paint Shop Pro, changed the colors, then printed! If you followed all that... yeah!

Girl Birthday Party Present

I love when one of my sweet dear children says "Mom... today is so-and-so's birthday party!" UGHH! Okay... so this is one of the quickest handmade gifts I have ever done. It turned out oober cute! And more importantly Nicole (the birthday girl) LOVED it! CHEAP and EASY - two things I don't mind promoting! :)
So we went to the $1 Store and picked out Body Wash and Lotion, then went to Fred Meyer and picked up a matching towel. If you don't have an embroidery machine, pick the color and sew on a ribbon to match!A gift for girls of all ages! Cost=$6! SUCCESS!

Star Wars Room

I have the sweetest nephew, Luke! He has is a oober cool SUPER MOM!! She decided to decorate his room in Star Wars. She did an awesome job with the paint, bedding, and decorations! She called me one day and asked if I had any Star Wars stuff in vinyl.... uhhh YEAH! So... we went a little nuts! (I think I am physically unable to do anything simple!)Of course you have to have the big STAR WARS! And the most famous saying EVER! (Well... besides "Luke... I am your father!" I have a picture frame for Luke for Christmas with him and his dad inside that says just that! LOL). Luke is a very special and dear child to my heart. I have watched him face the struggles in his life with such passion for life, the energy of a freight train and the love of angels. So, this quote has special meaning to me!
I ran into my sister-in-law at the grocery store and she told me that she had an extra Star Wars character and put in on his lamp shade. SUPER COOL IDEA! LOVE IT!!!A room is NEVER quite complete without a piggy bank! Little vinyl Star Wars images and characters border Luke's room. After Carissa put them up, Luke came to her and gave her a list of the ones he is now missing! Gotta love KIDS!

Baby Blessing Headband

I truly love all things baby. Everything is so precious and little. My friend had a baby blessing outfit, but she wanted something for her hair. So she purchased a plain headband and ask me to accessorize it! HEHEHEHE! I was so honored!I made three flowers, using satin, tulle, and organza, embellished with a rhinestone in the middle of each flower. And put two little satin leaves on each end.

These absolutely beautiful pictures were taken by Dani Mogstad. She is incredible! Dani makes the most unbelievable digital scrapbook pages. Check her out at Design by Dani.

Baby Shower Invites and Decorations

Last March my sweet dear friend had her fifth baby. Oh... this baby is so stinking cute! A couple of us threw her a baby shower. The food was incredible (well... I didn't do much there), but I did the decorations! (Right up my alley).The invitations were cake pops. BTW - cake pops are the easiest things to make. (Tips: dip your stick in the chocolate prior to putting the cake on it. Use a styrofoam board to put the cake pops on after dipping them - I covered my board with saran wrap making it reusable. Keep the cake pops cold - not frozen.)
D.O.W.N. - Diapers.Onesies.Wipes.Nuks - haha - get it? With FIVE kids, who doesn't need some down time!

I used the iron-ons that you can print on. Purchased some onesies and ta-dah SUPER CUTE
I made a bunch of crepe paper balls. Seriously loved those! (They are crepe paper (ya know... to decorate for birthday parties) twisted into rosettes and hot glued onto a styrofoam ball.) I could not find brown crepe paper... DOES IT ACTUALLY EXIST? Instead I used fabric.All in all the party was a huge hit. My dear sweet friend received lots of laughter, good times, good food, good friends and a beautiful baby girl!

Moments in our Arms & Forever in our Hearts

Every once in a while you hear of stories of tremendous courage. Incredible tenacity. And are in complete awe of someone testimony of Jesus Christ. My dear friend's sister, was pregnant with twins and lost one... being delivered at 33 weeks. Talmage and Fielding are their names. As I read through her blog - "Love.Joy.Lane" - and a big box of tissues, I am incredible impressed with her outlook and insights.

The other day someone asked her the dreaded question. How many kids do you have? How do you answer that? She asks.She doesn't hide the hurt, she embraces and realizes its place in her life right now. A true latter-day saint! Our prayers are continually with your family, Cyndi! You are an incredible lady, thank you!!!!!

Not only does reading her blog put my problems in perspective, but it is encouraging! Simple, wonderful faith of her and she sweet family. Upon bringing Fielding home, her daughter summed it up best when she said "But I just want that other baby in heaven to come home too!"

My dear friend is going to visit her sister this week. So we sent something along...

Thank you Cyndi and Kara!

TUTORIAL - Characteristics Of A Child

I love all things personalized. When I pass away... which I hope is a very long time from now... STOP MAKING THAT FACE AND LOOKING AT MY GRAY HAIR! I hope that my children will appreciate those things that I have made specifically for them. This being one of them...

Seriously love each one of these on my picture wall!!!!

Onto the TUTORIAL..

1. In Word and start with “Child's name is…"list all characteristics. Don't worry about spacing not quite yet! See... I am really not this creative. Hint: In Word, the thesaurus is Shift+F7.

2. Change fonts – keep your font size at least 1/2” or 36 pts size font. Be sure to BOLD the words before playing with the fonts. I absolutely love the following fonts. Grenoulle, Honey Script, I’m Bored, and Monterey. Seriously HAVE FUN! 3. Once you get it to where you like it… print on burlap. Make sure you have a little bit of a margin. For a very nice tutorial (haha it's mine!) for printing on burlap. Then trim the burlap to fit the frame.4. Place in picture frame. They often go on sale at JoAnns pretty regularly, if not USE A COUPON. I purchased and 8"x8 frame. I left the glass in and hot glued the burlap to a piece of cardboard before placing into frame.5. Paint letter. After distress, rough up edges with some sand paper. They are ~$1.50 at JoAnn's. Cheap huh? 6. Glue on ribbon. I like wire - it is very obedient - much more than my hair today. grrrr!

7. Make and place three burlap flowers. For a great tutorial on the burlap roses, go to Under My Umbrella.

Ta - Da... So stinking CUTE!