Colorful Christmas Mantle

I like color, fun, and bright in the house during Christmas. Using glitter present garland, stocking holders, regular garland, and some fun picks I was able to create this mantle display. Of course, the wreath is from a previous year that matches well.

Christmas Candy Cane Wreath

Wreaths are really my favorite part of any holiday. Dressing them and making them match a theme is so much fun!

This year, we decided to go with a candy cane theme on our house and we definitely needed a wreath to match! Here is what I came up with using a regular wreath, a few picks I picked up at the local craft store, plastic candy canes, and of course ribbon!

Old Mirror - New Chalkboard!

I came into contact with this old beautiful mirror a little while ago. The only problem? There was no glass in it any longer. It sat in my living room for months just waiting to be re-purposed but I couldn't figure out what to do with it.

 Here is the before:

After much thinking, I painted it with chalkboard paint I had left over in the garage and took off to find the perfect poem. Here is the final result and it was not as hard as you would think! I found a tutorial that suggested keeping the chalkboard damp as you wrote on it and I would suggest it too. It made the writing neater and easier to continue the writing. 

Hallway Collage

After seeing so many amazing posts with canvas collages, I knew I needed to do one ASAP in my upstairs hallway. You can see this wall from downstairs as well, so it had to look fabulous. I found a couple great collages and waited for a good coupon to come my way.

Well the day came last week when I received 70% off of an online canvas people site and I went on my way with ordering. Imagine my frustration though when every.single.collage I pinned had a size canvas on it that this company did not offer! So to my computer I went and worked hard to find a good amount of canvas that would fit my wall while utilizing the coupon I needed.

Here was the result! I am so happy with it (see below for dimensions)

My wall is 88" long 

The two outer pictures are 16x16

The next ones are 11x11

And the large center one is 18x24

I hope this helps someone else on their canvas design journey!

Little Mermaid 5th birthday

Last weekend was my daughter's 5th birthday and we decided to go all out for it. We even had Ariel attending the royal celebration!  I searched all over pinterest for ideas for a classy, fun, beautiful party and here was the outcome!

Royal guests were directed into the clubhouse. I made this sign from scrap wood, some tulle, and flowers with shells glued inside for a beach effect.

Once inside, the royal guests were able to select wands and crowns (for the girls) while the boys were able to pick out an eye patch and sword.

The dessert table was a huge success! I worked on cupcakes with brown sugar on top and chocolate shells all week. The chocolate shells were very easy to make with molding chocolate (bought at a local craft store) and a plastic mold also bought at the craft store. I handmade the seaweed as well. This was probably the easiest part of the party! I found tulle type material at the local fabric store (on clearance even) and cut into long strips. I tried to make the edges uneven for a better seaweed effect. Then I took the strands and sewed a straight line down the middle so it would bunch up. Looked great and got a ton of compliments on it!

The blue cups are actually blue jello with a sweetish fish inside. Also easy to make and were a big hit. Just take blue jello, refrigerate, and right before serving cut a slit in the top and place the fish inside.

 

The marshmallow octopus were not hard to make at all but, were time consuming. Making sure all parts of the marshmallow was covered and making sure the legs were long enough to show after the marshmallow was placed on top. I did these 2 days before and stored in an air tight container.

 

Rock candy made a nice effect to the table and the bonus was I didn't have to do anything to it other than place in a nice cup!

Stained and decorated treasure chest with the party favors in and around. I decided on small sand toys along with a bottlecap necklace for each kid. The girls had princesses to chose from while the boys had pirate necklaces.

Fall wreath

With the kids going back to school, the leaves falling off the trees, and the weather cooling down scorching heat, it is starting to feel like fall is coming! It was time to pull down my summer time sandals on my door and put up a new wreath. I searched far and wide on pinterest for a good fall/autumn wreath but, nothing really struck me as my style. What to do, what to do... make my own of course! I scrolled through pages of ideas and came up with something that kind of mixed a bunch together. A trip to the craft store was in my future.

Here is what you need:
-wreath (I always buy the green foam ones since they are cheaper)
-bag of spanish moss
-floral bunches (I bought two with mixes in them)
-small foam pumpkins or other veggie that represents fall to you
-yarn (this is the standard cheaper yarn in a burnt orange)
-letter
-arcyrlic paint
-round sponge brush
-spray glue (I used elmers)
-hot glue gun

TOTAL: $40 and I have enough to make something else

This is what's left after making the wreath.

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Instructions:

Step One: Use small round sponge brush to paint polka dots on wooden letter. Set aside to dry.

Step Two: Wrap yarn tightly around the wreath. Go about two-thirds around the wreath and make a knot at the end. I made an indent with my nail so I knew where to stop.

Step Three: Spray glue on the part of the wreath that does not have any yarn on it and carefully place moss. Make sure to not have any wreath showing (other than the back side which is fine).

Step Four: Pull the flowers and leaves off of the floral bunches and figure out where they would look best in the moss part of your wreath.

Step Five: Use the hot glue gun to place said pieces in step four.

Step Six: Tie the wooden letter with the same yarn used on the wreath. Tie tightly around the wreath.

Step Seven: Use yarn or ribbon to make the top hanging part of the wreath and tie off.

Step Eight: ENJOY!

Fruit ice pops

Found these on pinterest and knew they would be a big hit with my kids, since they love ice pops!! We try to avoid artificial colors in our house since it makes my boys go a bit loco! We made them in the evening, and the first thing in the morning, the kids ran to the freezer to check if they were ready! I was able to save them for a playdate we had, and all the kids enjoyed them. The only thing I did differently was to cut the juice with water to reduce the sugar.

Original pin is from here
http://www.lilsugar.com/How-Make-Fresh-Fruit-Popsicles-18393455

Cut up fruit, we also used fresh strawberries and kiwi, some frozen blueberries and grapes I had in the freezer.

Fill the mold with the cut up fruit, then fill with juice/water mix, then add the sticks, we lost a handle, so made do with a Popsicle stick!

One of the kids enjoying the finished product!!