{Crafting} Easter Crafts & Sweets

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday! Isn't it sooo nice to spend time with family? My mom hosted Easter at her home this year, so I made some simple Easter treats to bring for dinner/dessert. She always has hard boiled eggs on display, so I told her I would take care of that this year. I was all set to dye my eggs and try the wax decorating; however, I decided to go a more simple route.


All I did was cut little strips of fabric that I had leftover from one of Dean's homemade month onesies and tied it around some of the eggs. I left some of them plain because I loved the way the plain white eggs looked against the bright green grass.


I LOVE the look of carrots for Easter {think Peter Cottontail ;-}, so I made a few of my own to stick in with the eggs. So simple -- it literally took me less than 10 minutes to make all three of them! Here's what I did:
1. Cut a small rectangle of fabric {I wasn't very technical here and have no idea of the exact dimensions -- this was a QUICK project!}
2. Roll to form a little cone
3. Glue the last little bit of fabric to keep the cone together
4. Fill the inside with green Easter grass {allow some to stick out the top}
5. Done!


These would be really cute as part of an Easter table centerpiece or dessert buffet.


Then I made these quick, simple and festive nests with eggs. Again, a cute addition to an Easter/spring dessert table.


I used thin pretzel sticks, which I broke up a little. Then I added them to melted chocolate {I like using chocolate almond bark and chocolate chips}. When I scooped the chocolate/pretzel mixture onto wax paper, I just made sure to create circular looking nests with hollowed out middles. Once dry, I added candy coated chocolate speckled eggs to the center. Simple! Can you tell I'm all about simple...but cute. Cute is a must ;-}

**My mom is an awesome cook, and we had a delicious Easter dinner....Mmmmm. I made a pineapple bread casserole to compliment the ham she made -- I used my friend's family recipe. If she gives me permission, I will share it because it's my very FAVORITE! And extremely quick and easy to make. I love it so much that I actually made another small one to pair with our pork paninis last night!

**Back to work -- HOME STRETCH!

{Crafting} L.O.V.E

Surprisingly, I was able to squeeze in a few little V-Day craft projects over this busy weekend. Here they are {all VERY simple and requiring minimal time and prep}:

First up was my mantle. It needed a little something...little being the key word. Not wanting to overwhelm the space and following TomKat's lead on the LOVE letters, I put my own spin on things.

First, I used a dark pink pom I made this past summer and placed it on top of a plain white vase. {You can easily make your own poms by following my instructions here}.


Then I found these very simple white frames in the dollar bins at Target. Using some leftover scrapbook paper I had from my sister's sprinkle last July, I created backgrounds for each frame and cut letters out to spell LOVE.


I freehanded the letters on some white paper, cut them out and used them as patterns to trace onto the scrapbook paper. Using a little double sided tape, I attached the letters to the backgrounds.


I also cut out some hearts and placed them in an apothocary jar I already had filled with clear crystals.


Then I moved into the kitchen to make some V-Day sugar cookies. And please don't think I slaved away over a hot stove all day...I think I spent about a total of 1/2 hour on these cookies because I used pre-made sugar cookie dough {made by my hubby's company, J&J Snack Foods}. I had cookie cutters {hearts & xoxoxs} I bought from Target years ago. I iced some with pink frosting {also store bought}, sprinkled others with sprinkles, and left some plain.


Then I filled these adorable gable boxes from Walmart {a pack of 3 for $2} with cookies for Dean's babysitters {aka my mom, MIL and sis-in-laws}. Lastly, I tied some quick little handmade tags to the boxes with pretty pink ribbon.


I had some leftover scrapbook hearts after sprucing up my mantle, so I also made some cupcake toppers. I'm making dinner for a friend in need this week, so I'm going to throw in some V-Day cupcakes for dessert for her two adorable little ones. I think they'll like my heart toppers!


Lastly, also found in the dollar bins at Target, I grabbed three mini mailboxes {I added the ribbon and hearts to the front}. There's one for each member of my family {sorry Gingersnappers}. My goal is to write a little LOVE note each day for the next week to both Bo & Dean. Life is so fast-paced these days that I rarely have a chance to tell my loved ones how much I actually do LOVE them. I'm excited! And, BO POWELL, I left a mailbox for myself just in case "someone" wants to leave me a love note too...LOL!

Happy Monday everyone!

{Crafting} Eleven and We're in Heaven!

My Bubba was 11 months old on Saturday! This year has been such a whirlwind. The blink of an eye....and it's almost OVER. Seriously? Really?

I made Dean's onesie again and used my hot glue gun and some fabric. Easy peasy. Notice the sign I made...it was destroyed in about 30 seconds flat. Ahhhh boys.

Missing my little man right now and wishing we were snugged up on the couch together. Rough night last night....teething is NO JOKE. Mama is running on empty today and can't wait to get home to her baby! 11 months and still only two teeth....they've gotta be up there somewhere?!

***By the way, THE BUILT IN BENCH IS DONE...WOOHOO! PICS SOON!

{Crafting} 10 Months Today

My little Love Chop is 10 months old today. I don't think this child is going to know his name is Dean because of all his nicknames {Bubba, Love Chop, Stinka Bug, Punky, Suga"r" Sugs, Pumpykins, etc}.


I used fabric again to make the number 10, and as you can see, I went with a red/green color combo for Christmas. We tried a few pics in the Santa hat, but Bubba wasn't feelin' it this morning...haha. He's a pretty good sport considering I take these photos at 6 am!!!

{Crafting} We're 9 and Fine!

Baby boy is 9 months old today. Happy and sad.

I used fabric again to make his onesie. Hot glue it was instead of stitching...HUGE timesaver!


Look at the drool...haha. Someone is teething BIG TIME. Love my little pumpykins ;-}

{Crafting} We're EIGHT and Doing GREAT!

My Bubba is 8 months old today. Time is flying and life is SOOO GOOD with this boy. Better than I could ever have imagined it would be! He's hard work, BUT worth every second of it.

I used fabric again for this onesie because I thought making an 8 out of ribbon might be a little tricky with all those curves ;-} As a time saver, I ditched the needle and thread and just hot-glued the fabric onto the onesie. Much easier! I made the little pumpkin on the sign by using a sparkly orange button and cutting a tiny piece of pipecleaner. I made the spider as well and will be posting a quick and easy tutorial next week, just in case you Mamas are looking for some fun craft ideas to do with your babies the week of Halloween.


Can't get enough of his crooked little smile. When he laughs, I laugh!

TGIF!

{Crafting} 7 Months Today :-}

My happy, healthy baby boy is 7 months old already. ***SIGH*** I took this shot at 6 o'clock this morning....poor lil' guy was still a little sleepy. Life is full of super early mornings now that I'm back to work {but Dean is adjusting beautifully....it's Mommy that's having a hard time!}.

I used ribbon again to make the number on his onesie. I think I'm reverting back to fabric for next month though. 8 has waaayyy too many curves for ribbon!

{Crafting} My Classroom

As most of you know, I'm back to my teaching job after being home with my baby just shy of 7 months. It was hard to go back, even to a job I love, so I decided that if I couldn't be home this year with Dean, I would try my best to bring home with me to school.

I made this huge class tree about 10 years ago and it's traveled with me all around the building to wherever my classroom moves. I LOVE it and the kids help me decorate it. Each season I create a new theme.


To give my classroom a homey feel, I added curtains this year. I had tons of fabrics left over from the Sprinkle I threw for my sister this summer, and I didn't want it to go to waste, so up it went as my curtains. These were super simple. I literally used heavy clear packing tape to turn the edges under and used some cute curtain clips from Target along with tension rods. If you look at the back to the curtain, you'd totally laugh {it looks so ghetto!}. But who's looking at the back anyway?! And I definitely did not have time to sew them...


Again, I used leftover fabric from the Sprinkle to line my bulletin boards this year. Can you tell I like polka dots? Ha! I've even had a couple of my cute little 8th grade girls show me their polka dot notebooks and say, "Look Mrs. Powell, I love polka dots too!"



These boards hang above my teacher desk. One is a cork board and the other a magnetic board for hanging my things. I just simply covered each with fabric using a staple gun. Easy peasy.


This is my student supply center. It's a station with all sorts of supplies the kids use on a daily basis. It keeps them from constantly asking me for these items and it keeps their tons of germs away from my desk because they don't have to touch my things...haha. I used the bunting from Bec's Sprinkle as the "Student Supplies" sign.


Lastly, I have this dark pink rug from my first apartment years ago! I love it and it's adds a little color to my room. Plus the kids love to sit on it when they take notes or work with partners. Everyone fights over it :-} Maybe I should invest in a bigger one...

Thanks for taking a peek at my room! I'm off to bed so I'm ready for my little buggers tomorrow....5:00am comes waaaayyyy fast!

{Crafting} My Lil' Fella is 6 Months...WHAT?!?!

Aside from the fact that I am still in shock over my BABY being 6 months old, I wanted to do something a little different for his 1/2 year onesie. So....I thought it might be cute to dye it. Wrong. It came out all blotched! He looks adorable no matter what, but I think I'll stick with white for the rest! And, I definitely should have used fabric for the six....those curves were a little tricky with ribbon!


LOVE THIS SWEET BOY! I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'D DO WITHOUT HIM!!!

{Crafting} Cork Board

A couple of weeks ago, Bo and I switched around the furniture in the office/craft room. I now have a big wall behind my craft table and I've been working on a little wall collage for that space. Something I wanted to include in the collage was a place to display some of my projects, so I made this fabric covered cork board. Does the fabric look familiar?! I used old scraps from the fabric I used as tablecovers at my sister's sprinkle.


All I did was cover a cork board with fabric using a staple gun. Then I attached some ribbon, and lastly I added buttons in the places where the ribbon overlapped using a hot glue gun.


I love this because I can slide the projects and pictures I want to display under the ribbon, and it holds my things in place.


Items I used to make this:
~ square cork board
~ fabric
~ ribbon
~ buttons
~ staple gun
~ hot glue gun

This took me about 20 minutes to put together! Easy and cute!

{Crafting} 5 Months?!?

Dean is 5 months old today! I am so blessed to have a happy, healthy baby boy that brings his mama {and dada} joy every day!

I went the ribbon route again to create his 5 month onesie....it's much quicker and easier than the fabric option. Since it's July, I used red and blue ribbon to create his 5 and navy star cardstock with a red ribbon to make his sign.


My big boy {who is suddenly grabbing everything & eating 3 meals a day on top of nursing!}


All-American baby :-}

{Crafting} Binky Holders

My almost 5 month old son loves his binky. I have fallen in love with "binky holders" because they keep the bink attached to his body when it falls out of his mouth 100 times a day and keeps me from having to continually wash it after touching the ground. I've grown bored of the two I have from Target, so my cousin's wife, Kelly, gave me these little clips she found online. The pink one will be going to my sister if she has a little girl in September :-} Here's what I've got so far...


Using a needle and thread, I looped one end of the ribbon through the clip and stitched it closed. On the other end I attached a button {I might have to adjust this because it's probably not the safest option...I'm thinking major choking hazard} and made a little loop with the thread as a clasp. In the picture below, you can see how it holds the binky in place.


All you need are these little clips, some cute ribbon {I just used ribbon I had upstairs in my craft room}, a needle and thread, and buttons {I have a big jar from extras that come attached to new clothes}. I still have to finish this one....I'm going with a red, white and navy/patriotic look for summer.


This one was my favorite before Ginger worked her magic on it. It was chocolate brown ribbon with a white ticking stripe. This picture actually kind of makes me laugh now....not so much this afternoon when I found it in a million pieces on the family room floor - ha! There was also a yellow clip....she got that one too - ugh!


Dean's new bink holder in action! Do you see a little red in his hair and eyebrows or is it just me?!?


No reason for posting this picture other than my little guy looks adorable in it....I just LOVE him like crazy!


{Thanks for the clips, Kel!}

{Inspiration} Dollar Store Tiered Party Stands

Aren't these FUN?!? They are made from spray painted plates and candlesticks from the dollar store {I did not make these, but I think I might try this!}. I love different kinds of serving trays, platters, stands, etc and have started to build a nice collection, but they can be pricey. Home Goods is usually where I find them at a reasonable price, but making your own from dollar store finds is even more economical!


This is cute for a more formal look.

{Photos courtesy of Joy's Hope ~ www.joyshope.com}

{Crafting} My Baby is 4 Months Old!

My sweet boy is 4 months old today. It also happens to be his mommy and daddy's second wedding anniversay too. Soooo....I used remnants from my wedding to make Dean's onesie this month. I had a little extra ribbon I used to adorn the baskets I created for the restrooms and our ceremony programs, so I cut, arranged, and hot glue-gunned it on the onesie! Simple! I also used some of the extra paper from our invitations/programs to back the 4 month sign.


Love this baby!


Had to give a little shout out for our anniversary too!