Fun with Freezer Paper

I have discovered a WONDERFUL thing. 

Freezer Paper

One night while I was sifting thru all of the great ideas on Pinterest I came across "freezer paper stenciling" and wheels began turning in my head. I made a trip to Walmart and bought 14 solid color tees for roughly $3.47 each and bought some fabric paint from Michaels.

The fabric paint was a little pricey but I've read that you can use regular crafting paint just dilute it a little.

Mother and daughter craft together

Monsters University is coming out this summer and our family is a little excited. 

Front

Back

Who does not love Mo Willems and his pigeon? 

All you need for this project is some clip art, shirt (or any other medium you can dream up) freezer paper, paint, an exacto knife, and a hot iron.

The blog I used for instruction and inspiration was I Am Momma Hear Me Roar

My kids helped pick out the ideas they wanted for their shirts and the paint barely had time to dry before they were begging to wear their new shirts. 

It's super easy and lot's of fun!

Boy's Room Gallery Wall

I have been searching for the perfect thing to put on this large wall in my son's bedroom. Every time I found a print I liked it was just too small for this wall. So one day while I was browsing the stocked Image Gallery on Costco Photo Center I began finding A LOT of prints I liked. I decided to search for vintage National Park posters and various interest that my son and our family have.

After ordering the prints (which are WONDERFULLY priced) and buying frames for them I traced them onto simple packing paper and taped them to the wall to get the spacing right. My frames were purchased at the Dollar Tree, Walmart and Michaels. (watch for their sales on frames and save up your coupons)

This was the result:

My son's favorite color seems to be orange and he LOVES foxes. I found this print on Etsy and fell in love with it.

Camden sees a puppy and goes berserk  Loves them. We are Baltimore Orioles fans so of course this gallery wall had to represent and the orange works:) The planet poster came with a puzzle the family acquired at Christmas.

The centerpiece of the wall is the Parcheesi game I played as a kid. We have since purchased a newer one that we play and I wanted to preserve my old one. This was the perfect opportunity and it adds some whimsy to the wall. 

I am THRILLED with the result. Every time I walk into the room it makes me smile.

Happy Heart Day!

These easy to make bags greeted my little hearts this morning. I've been collecting a few things to stuff into their new Valentine bags so they had one hanging on the back of their chairs when they came down for breakfast. 

I got the idea for the dotted heart bags from V and Co.

I purchased a 3 pack of plain bags from Walmart for a few dollars. Used the eraser end of a pencil and some fabric paint. I cut a heart out of wax paper for my stencil and went to town. Super easy and I admit I now want to make one for myself.

My little man's mustache heart idea came from a T shirt design I saw on Etsy. Just needed two left over sheets of felt and some hot glue. Super easy and adorable!

With all the inspiration I gather from Pinterest we had some fun ideas for Valentines this year.

The kid's teachers got this "Survival Kit". I bought a clear tackle box from Walmart and bought lots of pink and red Valentine candy and gum to fill it with. I cut a piece of Scrapbook paper to put on the top to make it festive. The note that the girls later attached said:

Survival Kit

For those days when you 

could use a little extra love.

I think everyone could use one of these!

Happy Heart Day!!!

Brave Birthday Party

If you have little girls in your house you've probably seen Disney Pixar's movie Brave. The princess in the movie (Merida) is a spunky spit fire of a girl with curly hair and blue eyes. My Anna  fits that description (minus the red hair) and declared she was Merida. The birthday planning began.

I garnered many ideas from Pinterest and the web for inspiration. 

Quotes from the movie.

These were printed and stuck into a dollar store frame.

Goody bags included: Stickers, Play-dough, "Triplet cookies" (chocolate Teddy Grahams), an arrow pencil, a wisp Tootsie Roll lollipop, and "Fate Serum" soap.

Girls received the Merida soap and boys the Triplet soap.

Each child had a bulls eye painted bag and the birthday girl had Merida's family crest painted on her  bag.

Anna does not care for cake so she requested a big cookie cake. I asked my local grocery store to have 3 non-decorated large cookies ready for me the day before the party and I added the decorations at home.

The Lintz cookies I found at Costco looked just like the cakes eaten in the movie.

We had blue raspberry meringues to represent wisps and the blueberries to represent the berries eaten in the movie. Soft pretzels were added to the table to represent Celtic knots. 

Kid's played pin the tail on Angus. (Merida's horse)

Kid's also made their own crowns.

Of course we had the Merida costume left over from Halloween and it was declared early in the planning process that the costume would be worn.

The wig did not survive the party.

Always my wild and free girl.

Christmas Randomness

Snowflake Ballerina's

My Christmas gift making is slowly coming to an end so I have time to make these snowflake ballerina's for the two ballerina's in my life. These are great because they can stay up all winter!

My daughter cut out the ballerina's and I cut out the snowflake tutu's. When we were finished it looked like a blizzard had blown thru out family room.

While we are on the subject of Christmas, every day that there is a magazine in the mailbox is a mini Christmas for me. I LOVE magazine day...except the January issues. (which are coming out now) Have you ever noticed that your January magazine issues might as well be the thickness of a Sunday store circular? You get this nice and thick December issue FULL of great eye candy and they leave nothing for January. I don't know about you but January is long and cold where I live and I could use a nice, thick and colorful magazine. *sigh*

With that being said I am currently reading a wonderful book, recommended by one of my dear friends. If you've been looking for an imaginative book to read this holiday season I've got one for you.

The Christmas Chronicles

I am only 6 chapters in but this book is all sorts of fun. 

So how about you? Are you ready for Christmas?

   

Homemade Christmas Continues...

Christmas is in full swing at our house! 

I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel of gifts to be made so now I can show you what I've been working on.

Etsy

I saw these ADORABLE gloves on Etsy and knew they had to go to some of my girlfriends and my own little girls.

Now this was a big feat for me. I do not sew. Rarely a button. (which I am slowly changing)

Materials included: Store bought gloves, felt, and matching thread.

One friend is a UNC fan.

One friend is a VA Tech fan.

This one I just wanted red!

I am currently working on my little girls gloves which are purple with a bright red heart in the center.

This is my take on a Harry Potter wreath with interchangeable quote at the top.

My sister-in-law LOVES everything Harry Potter so what better way to dress her apartment door?

Each quote plaque has Velcro on the back and can be changed whenever she wants. 

She can display her Gryffindor colors with pride!

American Girl Doll Bookmarks

As I have mentioned before I have a daughter who loves everything American Girl. She recently purchased (with her OWN money) the American Girl doll McKenna and we have been reading the new Caroline series together as well. My daughter loves to read and so I figured I would make some American Girl bookmarks for her and her sister.

Amazon

I purchased the stickers above at Michaels and used my 40% coupon which brought the cost down to a few dollars.

I then picked out some left over scrapbook paper I had and cut them into strips that the stickers could fit on.

After I attached the stickers to the strips of paper I used my trusty laminator to laminate each one. Voila!