Weekend Catch Up

We had a fun old fashioned family Christmas weekend and I loved it :) Friday night we started with a Christmas movie night! We had home made hot chocolate, cookies, and watched The Santa Claus.  It was fun to cuddle on the couch and watch it with the girls :)

Saturday we started out EARLY with the arrival of Marshmallow ;-) but we didn't really get going until around 11 when I decided to take the girls shopping.  They made their lists of people they wanted to get gifts for, finalized their budgets, decided what to buy/make for each person, and then made a list of what they needed from the stores.  Busy morning!!  We went to the dollar store, and then to lunch :)  Then we hit up Walmart and oh my word ... it was crazy town.  I only went there because I forgot to pick up my photos the day before ;-)  Now when we got there at 1:00 they were backed up so we did our shopping and came back, they were STILL backed up.  We went and paid for our stuff, came back, and they were STILL backed up.  This time we stayed because they lady said my stuff was "almost done" ... an HOUR LATER ... they FINALLY printed.  I got 2 extra 8x10s out of it though so ya know ;-)

The girls did SO WELL the whole time, like REALLY REALLY WELL. I love being with them so much, they are SO funny and so fun to be around! We just had the best time :)

Now yesterday Marshmallow and I celebrated her arrival with a glass of wine but last night she didn't even want to share!!  I told her Sharing is CARING, Marshmallow!!  but she wouldn't hear of it!

The girls woke up to this though ;-) And I'm concerned about how a bottle of syrup is going to do following a bottle of wine for poor Marshmallow ;-)

Today we spent the day crafting and doing Christmasy stuff :) I made this pretty burlap and lace table runner!

And my middle girl made these ADORABLE Harry Potter pillows for my oldest :) They are the CUTEST THINGS!! I'll be posting a tutorial soon!  They are so easy and made of felt, cream colored fabric, and Wonder Under! SHE IS GOING TO FLIP!

It's been such a great weekend but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ready for school tomorrow ;-) SO MUCH TO GET DONE STILL!

Quick Christmas Gift for a Teacher

Today I'm sharing a Simple and Pretty Gift Basket I made last Christmas for my youngest girls teachers.

 First I had the girls help make some treats.  I pinned the easiest and tastiest treats!

They love getting involved! We made Christmas Hugs, Peppermint Bark, Christmas Brownies (which are just brownies with Christmas M&Ms and sprinkles on top lol), and some awesome chocolate cookies.

 Then I assembled everything I needed for the gift baskets, most of which I had hoarded gathered over time from various dollar stores and aisles :) I used:
Tin basket
Cello bags
Shredded basket filler
Gift basket cello bags
Wired ribbon
Satin ribbon
Baked Yummies
Pretty candle (Yankee Candles, on sale at Walgreens on Thanksgiving B1G2Free!)

I filled the cello bags with the goodies, one with bark and hugs, one with cookies and brownies. Then tied them off with red and green satin ribbons.

 I filled the basket with the shredded paper filler and put the treats on either side of the candle.

Next I took the basket bag, placed the basket inside and wrapped it with a pretty bow :) DONE!  And it looks SO pretty!

Princess & Toy Story Valentines

This year my 6 wanted to do some super cute, slightly different, Valentines for her class party. Her teacher isn't big on candy or the after effects on the kids, so I spent A LOT OF TIME on Pinterest pinning Valentine ideas. I originally liked this one but found it oddly difficult to find wild animal toys! So I looked through all of the stuff I've hoarded while on sale and came up with a SUPER cute idea of using Princesses and Toy Story toys I found at the dollar store!

There are only 20 kids in her class (THANK GOODNESS) and I actually had almost ALL of the small toys needed (I'm a dollar store/aisle hoarder) so all I had to pick up were the Valentines!

She loved them and while I was organizing the supplies she went through and wrote her name on the backs of them.

The next day I put her to work opening up all of the dolls.

I put the doll in the bag and took one Valentine for the front of the bag and the Valentine she signed for the back. It worked out SO perfectly that they matched AND matched the princess in the bag!!

I matched them up with the top one facing front

and the back of the signed card facing out back.

She enjoyed playing with the dolls ;)

Then I stapled them together with the bag in the middle, twice on each side, and one in the middle so the doll didn't slip out. Next, I cut off the rest of bag along the top of the Valentine.

The final product :) SO super cute and easy!!

It turned out SOOOO super cute!!! She is so happy with them too!


And since the boys would probably be NONE TOO HAPPY to receive a Sleeping Beauty doll, we did the same with some Toy Story toys! There are 10 boys and 10 girls in her class.

I'm so happy with how they turned out and can't wait for her party on Tuesday to see the kids faces!

Linking up to these lovely parties!!

My Favorite Posts of 2011

So the holidays came and went and I didn't post a THING.

I really meant to! I got busy with holiday events, making decorations and gifts, and just trying to enjoy being with my people, being present. That's one of my goals for the upcoming year, but that's another post.

So I started looking around on here and seeing what I have and what I haven't posted yet, and I thought it would be fun to post a recap of my favorite projects and look back on what all I've done.

Last January I posted a tutorial on a cute wreath made out of old T-Shirts! I love this wreath and can't wait to show you how I changed it up to make it part of my Valentine's decor! Check back soon for that post!

Back in May, I posted my most popular (AND most pinned!) tutorial is my Rosette Bracelet :) I STILL love these, love wearing them, and making them for gifts!

This was a quick little post on a sweet, cheap and easy photo gift idea! It's great for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Grandparents, birthdays, it's great!

I also posted the CUTEST little tutu and painted pearl shirt outfit (with tutorials). I just LOVE this for little girl gifts :)

This was a quick little post about an adorable outfit I found on clearance and added some FLAIR to. SO cute! Still want to do this to a few things of mine!

In this post, I prettyfied some dishtowels for a housewarming gift for some friends.

One of my PERSONAL favorites :) A tutorial on my jewelry organizer! I still use it and I LOVE it!

Then in June, I did a 6 part series of posts about redecorating my teenage daughters bedroom:
Part 1: Prettifying a Lamp Shade
Part 2: Easy Throw Pillow Makeover
Part 3: Easy Inexpensive Curtains
Part 4: Freezer Paper Stenciled Pillow & Mod Podged Lamp
Part 5: Painting Furniture

In July, I posted about my daughters 6th birthday party, a Tiki Tiki Pool Party including a tutorial on how I made the banner!

I also posted about a white board weekly calendar I made for myself. I can't tell you how much I rely on this thing that cost me absolutely nothing to make :)

Then I took a break for the summer ;) But in October I came back and posted about the AWESOME tutu costumes I made for my girls in 2010, complete with a tutu-orial :)
Part 1: A Darling Devil
Part 2: Witchy Woman
Part 3: Zebra's ROCK

And my last post was about my super awesome Halloween Wreath :)

I haven't posted as much as I would've like to, not even HALF of the projects I've done, so I'm hoping to make more time in the day to post more regularly in the new year. Here's hopin ... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Halloween Tutus! Part 3 - Zebra's ROCK!

For my final installment of Tutu PANDEMONIUM, my 13 year old's Zebra costume :) My tutu-orial is here {along with some much more helpful links ;)}

I was SO thrilled that when she saw all of the tutu ideas I had that she was EXCITED about dressing up! I almost lost her ... she tried telling me that she was too old and didn't want to dress up any more. I was sad :( I thought about my baby growing up, Halloween photos with only TWO dressed and was SAD.

So I made hers and she was over the MOON for it!

She loved it and I was just so happy :)

We got some stripped tights and I added a hot pink satin bow and ribbon to the waist band for a fun pop of color. I LOVE how it came out!

I Freezer Paper Stenciled a shirt with white paint and added some zebra stripes using a sharpie ;)

My Zebra :) She ended up liking the costume SO much that she's dressing up again this year!! She's going to be a peacock and I am SOOOO EXCITED to see how it comes out!!

Linking up to these parties!!