bracelets for orphans

oi vey. ignore the wrinkled fabric...highly unprofessional...but i was in a hurry to to ship them!

 my friend, jess, and i co-hosted a "bracelets 4 orphans" party at my house.

we invited our friends over, everyone brought a snack and their supplies,

and we hung out all evening making bracelets for russian orphans.

we found out about this through craft hope , 

who teams up with various organizations to give home made gifts to those who need them.

i've always wanted to participate, but for one reason or another, i've never been able to.

truthfully, i had forgotten about this site!

jess was the one who brought it up, and i was so, so excited to be a part of it.

thanks, girls!

::note::

here is a tutorial for the jersey knit bracelets that most of us made.

michelle made the pretty beaded ones (that my girls wanted to keep!)

and kyle made the crocheted ones!

easter eve

 

we dyed eggs:

 

we're missing an egg because jax tried to eat it.

and then everyone went to bed...except me.

we've all been sick in one way or another

(except for ali...and that's because the lord is merciful. she doesn't suffer well.)

and jason was pretty sick saturday night.

i stayed up to get all of the easter stuff ready for the morning.

i had started some peg dolls at a peg doll party my friend, jess, hosted awhile back.

i finished painting them friday night,

and made wings, flowers and a hat that night.

apparently i wasn't tired enough, 

because i then set up an impromptu photo shoot for them.

never mind the hideous lighting *gag*.

it was fun.

they are super cute 

(in general, i'm not being prideful!)

and they're fun to make!

 

i wanted to paint batman, but i have sort of a short attention span...

so he got a gnome--and i love it.

it's cool 'cause he likes it & made the connection that he has a gnome hat, too.

i was kind of surprised that they didn't toss them to the side.

they actually play with them.

score one for simplicity.

woodland fairy & gnome party

so sorry for the delay in posting this! i was mid-project all weekend long...and it was so worth it! i can't wait to show you!

but now, onto the party...

i seriously had soo much fun planning this party. sydney wanted a fairy party, of course with tinker bell, rosetta, and silvermist. but really? i'm over disney characters.

it's no fun planning a party around them...maybe it's just me, but it seems to stifle creativity & imagination...

so we did a woodland fairy party.

the only 'problem' was, there would be several boys there,

and for crying out loud they couldn't be fairies!

so, i e-mailed my friend michelle who is super creative & party savvy,

and the next thing i knew, she sent me allll these links to different ideas.

i fell in love with the gnome idea.

michelle, you rock.

my mom & tyler graciously offered to let us host our bash at their new house,

and my mom was so excited about the party that she dove right in with helping me plan...

and then she made all the food. 

that, friends, was a life saver...

and dang, she did a good job.

yum.

this was the entryway, or vestibule, if you want the fancy word.

i looove this room of her house, and i was excited to decorate it:

i bought the wreath and hot glued flowers onto it.

the 6 is mod podged chipboard.

 curling ribbon & flowers strung through with fishing line 

to give the illusion of floating/falling flowers

 were tied to dowel rods on each side of the door.

fairies & gnomes on toadstool vanilla bean cupcakes

i used my silhouette to make the cupcake toppers

the actual party was held outside on the back deck.

we left 1 table set up, and then arranged chairs everywhere else.

i went to the YWCA's thrift store and bought several random vases and bowls

to add to the whimsical feel.

i wanted to make the posts look like trees, so they were wrapped in brown streamer,

but i wasn't sure what to do for branches.

well, jason said he could use actual branches.

ok!!

i told him my vision for the rest of the deck, 

and he made it happen:

most of the little girls already had tutus,

so i only ordered some for the little ones that didn't.

 every girl got a halo, wings and a wand when they arrived.

i made head bands for the baby girls who were too little for the halos:

the costumes were tied with silhouette cut name tags to the trees

so that as our guests arrived, they could go find them:

 

i almost died of cuteness overload when i tried this on him at home.

the hats were made of felt, and the beards from fake fur.

i *think* it was from family fun,

but apparently my computer doesn't have the link on it anymore.

to say the fake fur was messy would be the understatement of the year!

the fabric lady at hobby lobby was covered, and so was the cashier.

oops.

i made the beards outside. ;)

harper & elee both had "baby wings".

they were only 9x7"

i loved that bitty size for the littlest girls!

*~*{creating} recap! *~*

 i've really been getting my mojo back, 

thanks to some supplements my friend jess' fiance recommended!

(supplement giant shout out!)

so.

i've been sewing, mod podging, and trying out my new silhouette:

first, i made a free handed pattern for a burp cloth set for my cousin kristin,

and her brand new baby girl, lexiann:

i added a 40x40 cotton interlock fabric, finished off the edges and appliqued some matching hearts

to make a large receiving blanket.

to package it all up,

i mod podged some wrapping paper onto a shoe box, 

made a quilted note card to complete the set, and voila! 

cuteness!

it's been awhile since i made girl stuff.

it was a lot of fun!

next, i decided that kyle and i needed bags 

to put our stuff in while we dance away the jiggle, so i followed this tutorial

and sewed some hobo sacks for us.

here's mine--

...but i forgot to take a picture of hers!

 i made them bigger than the tutorial says, and if i did it over again, 

i probably would have made them even larger!

my girls really like them and i have some extra fabric

that i used on their easter outfits last year,

so they may be getting smaller bags (w/ fringe) for v-day.

we'll see what time allows, as we're b-day planning right now, too!

finally, i tried out my new silhouette that i bought with left over christmas money:

i started off simple, and made a thank you card,

but i have plans in my head for vinyl cut outs for the wall, 

freezer paper stenciling, and all kinds of things!

and there's your recap of that's what been going on in my neck of the woods.

<3

day 43: valentines

i made these yesterday after i was finished with the marshmallow pops,

but wasn't able to finish them until today 

when i added sydney's little thumb print heart.

these are for their grandparents.

have i mentioned that i l.o.v.e. vintage?!

day 35: letter of the day

i made this tonight to go with the new paint and decor in the living room.

i love it!

Paper Beads

You saw how well our last bead project turned out *ahem*
So, I decided to try a different one-
One that I've wanted to do for a loooong time.

I swiped the Comics section of the newspaper from my Dad
and cut 6 inch long triangles that were about an inch at the base:

While my babies napped, I rolled the strips into paper beads
using the end of a small paintbrush, securing them with craft glue:

When they woke up, we brought out the stretchy string
and made jewelry:

After the jewelry was finished, I sprayed it

with a glossy acrylic sealer to make them
a little more durable and shinier, too!

They actually look wicked sweet--(I learned that from a Mom attending a
Haste the Day concert with her son. It made me laugh.) and it matches my
Converse-sort-of-emo-looking shirt really well...
and I dig having my favorite comics around my wrist.


Some time I'll try magazine pages for more brighter color and shine...

Tutu Times Two

If Angie was going to leave me a comment every time she checked, maybe I should've waited longer. It would make me look really popular and oh, how I love comments. =)

Here are the two sets of tutus I've made so far. I'm planning on making one more set to give to the girls for Christmas. The purple and green ones are looking rough at the moment because they got squashed in a bag. The others I made last night. I noticed that you can see a lot more of the band with the darker, bolder colors, but it is as full as it will go and actually is laying funny in the picture, showing more than normal.