Monster Truck Party - Part 2

So, I had the invitations covered...now onto the fun stuff! If you are just joining us see previous post HERE.
Here is today's party list To Do:

• Balloon Wreath
• Pin the License Plate on the Monster Truck

I ran across Pin the License Plate on the Monster Truck on Pinterest....


I loved that I could personalize the license plates for each kid and you can pick your state! Too bad Virgina has a very BORING license plate!

You can purchase the digital files HERE. Then I sent the poster to Sam's Club and got a 16x20 poster for $5! The license plates I printed out on cardstock.

I can't tell you how much I loved this. I will totally use this again!!!

Let's be real, it was a great photo op for capturing party attendees!

One warning on personalizing items, ok two. 1) Make sure you have the correct spelling of each child's name and 2) be prepared for last minute additions. As you will see, I had a lot of personalization so ensuring that no child was left behind was important. Even if a child was too young for the activity, I printed the license plate anyway. The visual was just as important and feeling of inclusion were important.

Though I am covering this early in the Monster Truck story, this was actually a last minute addition. As if I didn't have enough on my plate! This took me a Friday Craft night with my girls and it was a long night. I would say 4 hours to put this bad boy together. Not to mention my thumbs were raw from the floral stick pins! Now you know I love my son, because I do not have the patience for a project that long!

I didn't take pics of the process, but the pin that inspired me has a great tutorial. You can view it by clicking HERE and visiting the blog Cupcake Diaries. Good luck!

Next Monster Truck Party post:

• Monster Trucks - for each child built out of boxes

You won't want to miss this one! Check back!!!!

~ Jenn

Unique Baby Album

I was looking around for different ways to make an album to add as a special little baby shower gift and the idea of the onesie came up. 

So I played around with the shapes; dresses, bib overalls and of course the onesie. Then it just became fun dressing up the chipboard.

You can make these into any design once you have your template, the front and back cover is chipboard and the inside pages are cardstock  (template coming soon on our website). 
I have made one for a baby's christening all in white. Another very dressy for little girls and with all grandsons, I have made several of the little bib boys.

                     It's just fun to decide what theme to run with.   
                                  It's all in the creating......

~Cathy

Monster Truck Birthday Party - Part 1

So this year as I was planning my son's 4th birthday party, I looked at the options. Chucky Cheese, Bounce Houses, local farms, aquariums, etc. We had done a zoo party last year and that was a great value for our money. If I am having someone host, then I am paying them to take care of everything so I don't have to stress.

Problem is most of the places I was looking at didn't meet this criteria. So, I cruised Pinterest. I looked at birthday themes and finally landed on a Monster Truck Party! My son loves Grave Digger and each summer we visit Digger Dungeon on our way down to the Outer Banks, NC so this was perfect!

To see the birthday ideas that I gathered from all over, follow my Birthday Love Pinterest board.

Luckily, I was starting to think about this wayyyyyy in advance. So I had time, resources and friends to help me brainstorm and implement. I got together with Cathy and showed her all my ideas and she added to the momentum. We were even talking about buying a monster truck and starting our own monster truck traveling to boys birthdays as a business. Wouldn't that be cool if a Monster Truck parked on the lawn and we could take pics of all the kids in it? See what happens when we get together????!!!

Here was my party list:

• Invites
• Lanyards
• Balloon Wreath
• Pin the License Plate on the Monster Truck
• Monster Trucks - for each child built out of boxes
• Monster Truck Obstacle Course
• Wall O Tires
• Favor Bags
• Monster Truck cake
• Pizza - LOL I needed something to be easy!!!!

Through a series of posts I will share each of these and the overall final results. I will share where I ordered items and how I made the things I made. Be sure to check back!

So the first thing was the invites. Etsy has so many Monster Truck options for invites and they were all so cool I had a hard time making up my mind. I finally settled on these......

Note: I blurred out our address information at the bottom.  No stalkers please!

You can purchase them from CustomGraphics4u on Etsy - HERE. There are so many themes to choose from. I will definitely be ordering from her again! She sends you the file and you print the invites on 4x6 photo paper. There are always 10 cents deals at Walgreens. Two are on a sheet so that is 5 cents and invite! 

I also ordered lanyards on Etsy from thatpartygirl - HERE. They were slightly more expensive 12 for $30 but I figured that by the time I bought the lanyards and printed the pic it would have saved me time and headache, so I splurged. My original intent was to give these as the invite; however, I wanted the kids to wear them to the party. Let's be real: When going to a birthday party we are lucky enough to grab the present, let alone the invite! So I decided to give the tickets and save the lanyards for entry. That worked great!

Welcome to my world of trying to capture moments with a 4 year old! Stay still and don't say cheese!

Note: You know the drill! Yes blurred out personal info :)

This was definitely the start of something good! Invites {check}, lanyards {check} - next up...Balloon Monster Truck Wreath and Pin the Licenses Plate on the Monster Truck! Stay tuned!

~Jenn

Outdoor DIY Art

I love browsing through the dollar store and finding items to alter into something fabulous. I found some wall plaques with a flat surface and I had thought they would be perfect to adhere a photo to and Mod-Podge over it for a floating photo effect. So I bought a couple to experiment and they sat in my scrapbook room.......hoarder! Positive intentions collecting dust. 

Until, Cathy told me about these photos that she and her husband had taken that she wanted to use on her covered deck. Her daughter-in-law suggested to use the bird pics, I came up with the project and Cathy was the brawn and had the gorgeous pics! Since it is outside but is covered from most of the elements (mainly water) I thought the Mod-Podge seal would be perfect.

So one Friday, Cathy printed 4 - 8x10 photos of her birds and we got started!

All you need is:

• foam brush
• Mod Podge in matte finish
• 8x10 picture - trimmed to match the size of your board
• picture board - I got mine at the Dollar Tree in the frame section

1. Paint Mod Podge on the

board

2. Position the photo on the 

board

3. Smooth out the photo so

there aren't any bubble

4. Paint Mod Podge over the

photo, edges and back to seal.

5. Let the pictures dry. 

6. Cathy's Margaritas was how

we passed the time! YUM!

 Voila! Cathy hung them with the 3M picture hangers. How awesome does that look? 

So cute -- and all for under $4 each! I am going to take beach pics and do this for my sunroom! I can't wait! They look great on her deck, highlight treasured memories and add to the outdoor decor! 

~Jenn

DIY Frames for Gifts

Oh my goodness - We can't believe that we have reached over 1000 pageviews today! We are soooo flattered and speechless. Thank you to all of you who have viewed and continue to come back and spend time with us! Phase 2 is our Website where we will have some products for purchase. Can't wait to share that milestone with all of you!

Things have been so busy for us lately! Running from party to party and spending time with friends at BBQs. The good thing is that it wears out my lil one! {and me too!} Believe it or not I (Jenn) am the lazy crafter. I like a quick craft with huge results. This is partly because of my patience but mostly because I don't have much time.

I do LOVE making presents. I will take the time because I know how much people appreciate the thought and effort that goes into them as long as they are personal for the receiver. When my neighbor was having a graduation party, of course it is customary to give cash to assist with all the piling expenses that the next phase of life will bring but I had to make it personal somehow.

I thought that I would make a frame. This could serve as the presentation as well as hold memories. And I knew just the paper that would be perfect for this beautiful, sophisticated lady.

What you need:

• Wooden frame (purchased mine from Michael's in the unfinished wood section) 
• White glue
• Exacto knife
• Sandpaper, optional
• 1 - 12x12 sheet of scrapbook paper of your choice
• Coordinating embellishments
• Other adhesives depending on your embellishments

NOTE: When you are selecting the paper, make sure that you are mindful of the picture cutout and where that will fall once you adhere the paper. You will cut out the paper for the picture so be sure you aren't cutting out something that you wanted to have on the frame itself. I had to turn my frame to figure out placement. This also will help inform the type of embellishments you will use based on your playing area. Also, be sure that you use thick paper. I have used really cute thin light colored paper before and you can clearly see where the glue was applied. UGH!

I think this is the perfect paper for a graduation from My Mind's Eye. "Spread your wings and fly..."Plus, I love birds and what the symbolize.

1. First, remove any wrapping and glass where the frame goes. Set aside. You may want to paint the frame to coordinate with the paper. I liked the raw wood with this paper so I skipped this step.
2. Set the frame right side up and apply Scotch white glue around the edge of the frame and around the picture cutout. Apply a thin line - not too much or it will ooze out of the sides. You want it close enough to the edges that it will spread and not run over but allow a small amount of space for that to happen. If it does ooze, just wipe with a paper towel. 
3. Then set the scrapbook paper at the edges to minimize the need to trim. You should have already figured out placement so this should be easy. Set the paper down and rub in the areas that you know you applied glue. Wipe away any oozes and ensure there aren't any bubbles. The beauty is that if you mess this up, just pull up the paper and apply more glue {if needed} and reposition. 
4. Then, I flip the frame over and rub the back to ensure it adheres. You should be able to see along the edges where the excess paper needs to be trimmed. Take your exacto knife and run it along the edge of the frame in one straight line. You will do the same to the frame cutout. Clean up any jagged edges. You can use sand paper for this too if you need to.
   
5. Flip the frame back over to the paper side and assess embellishment placement. Believe it or not I like to arrange and play before I commit. I find that the more I play the more ideas I have. 
   
6. Adhere your embellishments. I like a 3D look so stacking the chipboard stickers and using bling and flowers is totally the look I was going for. I don't get to do much girlie stuff! I used the brown bling and cut it apart. Don't think you have to use it as it came packaged!
   
   

The final presentation. I love it and now I want one :)

Hope you are all spending quality time with your loved ones this Father's Day!

~ Jenn

Time to Upcycle Again...

My best friend  gave me this little picnic table that her sweet boy had outgrown. 

 

So I brought it home and of course I had to have help from my grandson and we began to disassembled the entire table.

Then spray painted each piece.

Then  " we"  had to reassemble it.

 I also added his little hand prints on top. He is going to have a new little brother in September so next summer it will be time to add the new little hand prints on the other side. I just used the children's washable paint and then sealed with Mod Podge.

Always look at a discard through spray painted eyes!

~Cathy

YUM - Italian Veggies on the Grill

I love summertime for many reasons but mainly being outdoors. Being able to cook dinner on the grill outside is a complete bonus and not to mention less mess! I think I am allergic to measuring cups and I know whose fault that is - my dad of course. He has always made up recipes and just measured in the palm of his hand and used his taste buds as the judge. Can't go wrong with that! That is why I love recipes where I don't have to measure and I don't need directions!

Besides the time to cut all the veggies this is a quick hit and great for grilling.

I layer all the following veggies in a 9x12 foil pan (I use a glass dish). The heartier veggies to cook like squash and potatoes are at the bottom.

• Tomatoes
• Red, green, yellow and orange peppers
• Yellow Squash
• Zucchini
• Yellow onion
• Can of peeled white potatoes

These are the veggies I use but the possibilities are endless!

Once it is all layered in the pan I sprinkle Italian dressing mix all over the veggies. For a large tray like this, I used a package and a half. Usually if I am grilling I don't add anything else because the juices from the veggies are all you really need but this time I added balsamic vinegar and red wine vinegar (a 1/4 cup maybe of each). I don't know the cooking time but I just check the squash. It does take at least 20 minutes so be sure to put this on before you start the meat so everything is ready together. Mix occasionally to ensure none of the veggies burn to the bottom.

Another alternative to cooking is the just put all of the mixture in a pot on the stove. We recently had to do this because the valve to our grill came unhooked. Why does this only happen when you have company?

All the veggies will be a mushy soupy yummy mix. Sprinkle Parmesan and serve....YUM! Even people who don't eat veggies will enjoy this!

Enjoy!

~Jenn