Lil Summer Break

So lately I've mostly posted my WIWW posts {IF that} and it seems harder and harder to craft these days let alone POST anything!

We've been SO busy this summer and the days that we're not busy I'm totally enjoying doing absolutely NOTHING LOL.

So I'm {totally late} taking an official SUMMER BREAK from posting. I'll be back after they go back to school {16 MORE DAYS!} crafting and posting my heart out.

16 MORE DAYS UNTIL ... THE.BEST.YEAR.EVER :) All the kids ... in school ... ALL DAY :) I can hardly freakin believe it but yes ... after almost 14 FREAKIN YEARS it will finally happen. I will be ALONE for 6 HOURS EVERY.SINGLE.{week}DAY.

*THROWS CONFETTI*

Not to say that I haven't enjoyed the summer with my crazies kids, I HAVE! But I'm also ready for the BEST.YEAR.EVER. to start!

So I'll see ya'll in a couple{ish} weeks! And if ya'll miss me I'll {HOPEFULLY!} still be posting over here :D Enjoy what's left of this lovely summer ... I know I'll be trying ;)

Old Frame to White Board Calendar

I've been needing a white board type calendar to use just for ME. Things *I* need to do, make, cook, that kind of thing.

Supplies:

Old frame
spray paint
sharpie
white board pens

So I had this old framed picture that's just been filling up space in the hall way since we moved here. I didn't really LIKE the picture (or the frame color) and it totally didn't go with anything anymore so I decided to put it to MUCH better use :)

1. I took the frame apart and cleaned off the glass and frame.

2. Then I spray painted the frame, 2 coats.

3. Once it was dry, I reassembled the frame with the ugly picture BACKWARDS so the white backing was facing out.

4. Then I experimented, using my white board pens, what I wanted the board to look like.

I tried out a few different styles

even looked on Pinterest to see if I could find some inspiration there.

eventually I came up with something I liked so I took the back off again and prepared to write it for real on the white paper.

5. I measured out where I wanted the lines and used a ruler to make sure they were {mostly} straight. Then I wrote in, with sharpie directly on the white paper, the days of the week and the column headers since I figured those wouldn't be changing.

The best part about writing that on the paper itself is that I don't have to worry about wiping it off or rewriting it all the time.

6. Finally I reattached everything again and she was ready to use!

Easy Peasy! I LOVE this calendar! I use it ALL the time and it's in just the perfect place. I write down all the things I need to get done in the week and then decide when to do them based on what else is going on in a day. It's helped me stay more organized and focused and it looks pretty too :D

Linking up to these parties!

A Tiki Pool Party

We just recently had my daughters 6th birthday party and it was a Tiki Tiki Pool Party :) I spent weeks looking for ideas and I think it turned out pretty well!

We were going to have a pool party so I went into dollar tree hoping they would have something I could use for a theme there. I was PLEASANTLY surprised! Most of the stuff came from there. And beyond that, I just went with hot pink and blue :)

I used this tutorial for the super cute poms hanging from the chandelier. I made them a little bigger though.

Because we're trying to work with a TIGHT budget and have no oven at the moment, I got the cupcakes at the Savemart. I TOTALLY lucked out and they had blue and pink ones the day before the party.

The pink ones had Hannah Montana rings on them.

But I decided I could work with it. I took off the rings, stuck in a drink umbrella and BAM! Cute tiki-ish cupcakes ;)

The banner. I made this out of a dollar tree door hanger. I just took the pieces apart, used my cricut for the letters, and hung them on some twine with clothes pins :) I LOVE how this came out :)

Beary Lil Swimmers :) I saw this idea and decided to tweak it a bit. I filled cups filled with blue jello and stuck in some little teddy grams! So CUTE!

OH and I found these cute free printables and used them to make tented cards with cute little names for the food!

My personal FAV. Crackers with sliced turkey and a little circle of mozzerella for the "pearl" ;)

The drink table. Blue gatorade and bottled waters with blue koolaid drink mixes.

The bigger (less cutely named) foods

The party favors. I used a pail and filled it with goodies! They kids each got a lei, package of chalk, bubbles, pool balls, and flip flop sucker! The kids LOVED them! I used another set of free printables on the front. I printed them on cardstock, cut them out and wrote "Thanks for coming, we DIG you!" then stuck it on with Zots :)

It was a great party and I'm VERY happy with how it all turned out :)

But let me tell you ... I'm REALLY glad it's over! I get so stressed out over these parties and everything that goes along with it. I forget how that feeling every year until it comes time to start planning again ;) I'm glad Teen is foregoing the party for taking her a couple of friends to Six Flags for HER birthday! LOL!

Linking up to these parties!