Ladies Craft Night

So our Sunday school ladies got together last week to make wreaths. The pictures of the wreaths they sent to get our creative juices flowing were way cute....

So with these ideas, I went in search of my perfect wreath to begin my backdrop.  Then I carefully selected my colors.  I then spent entirely too long trying to find just the right sprig to make it all come together. Then I did the same thing for the materials for the spring wreath I was making for my mother in law.

I was overjoyed to realized that my procrastination had payed off when I found out the wreaths were 50% off on the day I purchased them. SCORE one for procrastination!

Craft night came. I fiddled around with making the flowers, tossing aside the template because it seemed too complicated (and I'm a simple girl and like easy things).

And my flowers turned out something like this.

I only got through with a few of them and it seemed like I looked up and it was time for me to leave.  I was in no way, shape or form ready to be finished with the night.

But I went back home and let my fabulous in-laws go home (thank you!).  Then I proceeded to continue with my crafty streak.

And I finished with a wreath that looked like this.

So there you have it....my spring wreath for my door.  The very next night, I made another one for my mother in law....and although in this picture it appears crooked, imagine it hanging correctly...and her spring wreath turned out like this.

It has felt very good to be crafty!  I have realized how much I miss that aspect of my life.  I do have creative juices and apparently they do sometimes like to flow.  And I guess it's good to sometimes remember that!

My front door is thanking me.

Quick & cute weekly calendar

I knew that once I succumbed to pinterest I would be in trouble, but I think I've done a fairly good job at making some of my pins into reality. (This is not to say that I have even completed 1% of the projects I've pinned...not even 1%, but I've done some. Some is good).

I saw one yesterday that was so cute that I decided to take the plunge with it today. 

I saw this incredibly cute idea to make a weekly calendar using a collage photo frame, and knew that this would be a quick and easy way for the entire family to know who needed to be where for the week.  Depending on the space, I may decide to incorporate our weekly dinner menu onto this as well, but we'll see.

I picked up the frame at the Dollar Store ($8)

...then I rummaged through my paper scraps trying to find inspiration for the insides of the frames.

After some experimentation, I decided that I liked the thicker paper better, as it made the frames tight.  Considering that I was going to be writing on the glass with a dry erase marker, I decided I didn't want the glass to be 'wiggly'.  You decide what's best for you.  I played with the color scheme.

Then had what I was comfortable with for a finished product.

Add the days of the week and your calendar with a dry erase marker after you hang in the spot of your choosing and you're ready to go!

Castle Cake

So let's say you get adventurous in your baking and decorating attempts.

Let's say you see a picture and think you just might be able to pull that off.

Let's say that the picture is actually part of a video, with what someone felt was step-by-step instructions.

You may just be tempted to make a castle cake for a little princesses 4th birthday.

Let's say you actually succeed, and make one little 4 year old incredibly happy at her princess party.

Here's how I did it:

I made several cakes in a square cake pan (one cake mix ended up making 2 squares).  After they cooled some, I cut the rounded portion off of the top to be sure they were flat on both the top and bottom (is it just my cakes that have a severe rise in the middle?)

When I had all of the squares made (you'll need 5 total), I layered strips of waxed paper around the bottom edges of the bottom layer, then assembled the base of the castle, using white icing to 'glue' together the squares (I used 4 squares for the base).

After stacking all of the square layers, I frosted the entire base.

With the remaining square, I cut it into 4 equal pieces, and made a smaller stack on the top of the base in the middle.  I used the same process of using icing to 'glue' together the pieces, and then frosted the entire thing.

I then placed it all in the refrigerator to cool and allow the icing to harden up a little.

I then turned my attention to the turrets.

I used waffle sugar cones,

coated them with a thin layer of icing,

then rolled them in red sugar sprinkles.

I then put the turrets on the four corners of the base and in the middle of the 'castle' structure. 

I used gel icing to define the door and castle edges.

I then added pink and purple M&M's (thankfully, Easter is right around the corner and getting M&M's in girly princess colors was pretty easy!)

and defined the tops of the castle 'walls' with the M&M's.

As you can see from the above picture, my 'ceiling' was a little crooked.  Oh well!

It was a castle fit for a princess....and her little friends!

Gingerbread houses

Grandma and Grandpa watched the girls during their 'sick phase' when I needed to go into the office before the Christmas break.

Tatum had one request...to make gingerbread houses with Grandma.  She even had the graham crackers and all of the icing out before they even arrived at the house.

Gingerbread house #2 was actually made with Mommy and Uncle Jonathan, from a kit I believe we purchased last year (which I'm hoping explains why the 'icing' was so difficult to maneuver).

She kept going back and adding additional 'features' to the house, and had so much fun doing it!  We'll see if we end up doing another set of graham cracker houses this year....she's still asking to do them!

Trash to Treasure, or what I did with my stuff

In a recent post I discussed purging my t-shirts from my closet in an attempt to declutter. Well, I thought it might be nice to re-purpose that fabric.  I've also been wanting to make a wreath more suitable for our front porch than the fall wreath currently in place that I won at a ladies night for losing the most turns at Bunco. The one that hung there until late this summer when a dear friend reminded me that it was no longer fall (and hadn't been for some time) and I finally took it down, only to put it back up two months later.

After a quick google search for rag wreaths, I found this tutorial. This was one of many that popped up, but it seems straightforward enough, right?

So I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased a wire wreath (less than $2.50).

Then I came home and started on the fabric strips.  First I cut a small starting point and tried ripping the fabric. I don't suggest using that method.  T-shirt fabric does rip, but not in a very even manner.  On my second attempt, I just eyeballed the size I wanted and cut the strips. Worked much better that time. I then decided to try and be a little more efficient, and neatly folded the t-shirt in half, eyeballed and cut. Even better.

I cut from the bottom up and layed the strips aside until I had cut the t-shirt up to the sleeve. I then folded the strips, cut, folded again and cut to get the size strips I thought I would need.

I didn't use the same types of knot as the above tutorial. I folded the strip in half, threaded the open ends through the wire, pulled them through the loop made by folding, and then pulled the ends tight to make a knot around the wire.

Here I go!  Knot away.....

I finished 5/8's of the wreath on day 1.

Here is the finished project (day 2).

And here it is actually hanging up on my door.  I'll probably get a 'real' wreath holder, but part of the t-shirt hem works really well for now!

What cool wreaths do you have hanging on your door? And do you have any other ideas for me? Share!

Fresh fireplace

I decided to change things up on my fireplace for the fall.
Here's what it looked like before.....
(not that I was completely happy with the 'before' look)

And here's what it looks like now....

It's certainly not going to grace any magazine pages, but at least it's a little more seasonal!

Any ideas for me to take it up another notch?

We're getting there....

So Matt and I have managed to swap bookshelves (taking the one from the "play" room into the living room and the one from the living room into the "play" room), purged items from said bookshelves, and have gone through toys in bins and books (both ours and the kids).

I also inventoried all of the girl 0-3 month clothes, washed, folded them, and they're now put away in the former "play", soon to be girls, room on the newly inserted bookshelf.

Next up, moving the computer desk and computer into the living room, rearranging the furniture in there, bringing Tatum's bed back into the girls room, and then setting up the changing table.  I'm hoping we'll get all of this done by the end of the day tomorrow (it would be wonderful if it was all done today, but I know that I'm certainly running out of steam!).