diy fabric fall wreath

my poor front door needed a little fall tlc! this simple wreath will have to do for now... at the end of the month i will be decorating a new front door at our new house! we are feeling so blessed!

this is just a simple grapevine wreath with a few different fabric flowers i made using tutorials from around the web. 

orange yoyo

striped frayed flower

red rolled fabric flower

petal pusher

small yellow yoyo w/green button

preschool file folder games

my boy & i start homeschool preschool in a few weeks! the curriculum i am using calls for file folder games & includes directions of 26 games to make on your own. i wasn't too thrilled with the folder game ideas provided so i am substituting with a few of my own creations! dollar tree has a ton of these great preschool workbooks. most are in color & even come with stickers which is my little guy's favorite part!

the first game i made using this book is "color challenge" using the 9 object stickers. don't take them off the backing, just punch them out so they aren't sticky and stay sturdy.  cut the page in half & laminate each half (i used contact paper). use double stick tape to press each half onto either side of a file folder and your game is done!

the other game i made from this book is called "shape sort". cut out the shapes on page 1 and laminate. this game uses two pages from the book that are front/back so you will need 2 books or just scan and color print from your computer printer like i did.

  

your little person will cover up shapes that look most like the object. easy peasy! 

add a small envelope to the front of each folder to house the game pieces & write game directions.

another great game that i found on my search is an alphabet sequencing game from lakeshore learning available as a free printable on their website. i'd love to hear your great {& free!} file folder game sources!

cars movie birthday party

last weekend was our annual celebration of owen & oliver on their birthday! {you can see birthday #3 here.} this year both of the boys are really into characters from the disney cars movie: tow mater for oliver & dinoco for owen. we didn't want to get too crazy with the cars theme so my sister-in-law alli & i mostly played off of the colors of the cars movie characters & a sandy color for radiator springs- a town in the desert where most of the movie takes place. 

we went with an evite again this year. i added a recent pic of the two boys and little pictures of mater & dinoco to tie in the theme.

trying to get away from the usual hot dog/hamburger routine at an outdoor party, alli came up with a great idea for a gourmet taco bar. we served flour tortillas & corn taco shells, shredded chicken & carne asada with the usual fixings of shredded cheese, diced tomato, shredded lettuce and sour cream. also on the menu were black beans, refried beans, chips, salsa, guacamole & fruit cups. 

the birthday banner was made with an iron-on letter set & pennants cut from felt sheets {all from hobby lobby}. line up the pennants & put them thru the sewing machine. easy breezy! 

the real star of the show though was the birthday cake! {inspired by this cake} alli made an amazing 3 layer carrot cake with cream cheese frosting tinted to look like sand. mater, dinoco and the cactus were made from royal icing using a royal icing transfer technique. milk chocolate rocks added the perfect touch! 

man, it's hard to get a good picture of these 2 monkeys! their shirts were made with felt, wonder under & coordinating shirts from wal-mart.  i opened up a word document and printed a "4" in all-star font, size 550. used it as my pattern to cut out 4's from the leftover banner felt. i used the red & blue felt 4's as my guideline to cut numbers out of checkered flag felt about a quarter or half inch bigger all the way around. i sewed the two 4's together then used wonder under to attach them to the shirts.

happy 4th birthday to two of my favorite little people!

post-it pocket knock off

aren't these new post-it pockets cute?!

yeah, well, cute has it's price because they are also expensive. i saw them at target for $14. seriously?! here is my knock-off version made for $1.04 with scrapbook paper & a sewing machine:

you will need:

2 pieces of 12x12 scrapbook paper 

paper cutter

x-acto knife

ruler

double sided tape

cut scrapbook paper into two 9.5" x 6" rectangles

using an x-acto knife, cut a triangle starting 1.5" from the top and 3/4" from each side. this will be the opening for your bills or receipts.

using a sewing machine, sew around this triangle. just for pretty :)
(if you don't sew, just skip this step)

now add your backing paper and stitch 1/4" all the way around the rectangle.
(if you don't sew, use double sided tape instead.)

a little double sided tape on the back and it is ready to stick to the fridge.

it has a way of making my bills look so much prettier!

sandwich bag easter carrots

so tomorrow is owen's easter party at moms-day-out. and in true kelli fashion {read procrastinator} that makes tonight the perfect time to whip up a special treat for the little monkey & his classmates! i thought these little easter carrot treats were super cute and love that they are candy-free. 

but those cake decorating bags are a little pricey so i came up with a way to make them out of sandwich bags & curling ribbon.

here's the how-to: 
cut or tear the fold of a fold lock top sandwich bag. 
fold the bag into a triangle with the opening at the top.
add a piece of scotch tape.

now your cone shaped sandwich baggie is ready to fill! 
add a twist tie and green curling ribbon to finish off the carrot.

happy easter! 

He is not here; 

He has risen, 

just as He said. 

matthew 28:6

pbk hack: wooden ruler growth chart

i love this growth chart from pbk.

what i don't love is that it is really hard to find {and i know myself well enough to know that even if i could get a hold of one i wouldn't like the price!}, so i made my own!

i had jay pick up a big pretty board at the hardware store for me. that sweet guy even sanded and stained a clear coat on the board for me! then i laid out a measuring tape and marked lines for the inches and feet. i didn't want my little guy to outgrow his growth chart {so hard to believe that someday he will be that tall!} but my board is 1' x 5' so i started my markings at 1 ft 1 inch ended the board at 6 ft 1 inch.

i really wanted the numbers to duplicate an old wooden ruler as much as possible. i even consulted my all-font-knowing sister... but alpha fonts are her forte & she wasn't sure about the numerals. i finally settled on using century font, sized at 150. i didn't trust myself to freehand the numbers so i just printed off #'s 2-6, cut them apart and took to the board with some tracing paper & a pencil.

the last step was to fill in the numbers using the same paint pen i used for my inch marks.

i love that this growth chart will blend well in owen's room no matter what the theme. and i love being able to have a touch of pbk style in his room for so much less!

halloween felt flower

i didn't buy my kids any halloween clothes this year so i made my little doll an accessory this morning to add a little orange to her white & black for halloween.

a sweet little felt peony flower using this quick and easy tutorial. (special thanks to my sister for buying too much felt & blessing me with it!)
 

   

i attached it to a pin so i can swap it out between a hat, headband, or clothes. she likes it!

gender neutral baby shower: owl theme

my sweet sis-in-law is pregnant with baby unruh... coming late november! alli and i hosted a baby shower for april with an owl theme.

pictures of max and april in felt owl frames ($2 martha stewart kit at big lots)

along with the cake our brunch menu was fruit salad, mini muffins, sausage breakfast casserole, and little smokies wrapped in crescent roll

instead of a game we did custom iron-on onesies for the baby. this picture is a little blurry but it says "MAX + APRIL = me". we also had everyone add a little heart iron-on on the bum and write their name on the heart so that when mom and dad are dressing the baby in these cute things, they will know who created each one.(this one is from april's sister... soon to be aunt karen)

onesies and iron-on's can get expensive- especially since we were planning for about 25 shower guests. a couple of months before, i started collecting packages of onesies at joanns and michaels with my weekly 50% off coupons. i also used a coupon at michaels and bought package of iron-on transfer paper for $6. i searched  google images to find fun gender-neutral pictures to decorate the onesies. some, like the one here, are just text that i typed in a word document. i suggest using fun & unique fonts. i love collecting fonts and there are some great available online. my favorite fonts always come from dafont.com  i printed the images from my home printer onto the special paper and cut them out for shower guests to choose their favorite!

paper lantern sports balls

when we moved owen to a big boy room last fall, i used a lot of ideas from rate my space to decorate his sports themed room. i came across a space with this great sports ball light fixture made from paper lanterns. i couldn't get my hands on the only one i could find, made by home interiors, so i made my own!

i ordered 4 lanterns to make the 4 sports balls-
large orange round: basketball
large brown oval: football
large white round: soccer ball
small white round: baseball


jay helped me pencil & tape the designs off w/masking tape, then i just took a paint pen to each one to turn them into sports balls! we hooked them up using a triple socket cord kit (the baseball does not have a light) and staggered the heights from the ceiling. the light is so fun & different & owen loves them as much as we do!