A Cowgirl Birthday

I don't quite know how the Bean picked her party theme this year, to me boots and spurs don't quite mix with an inflatable bounce house.

But, its what she wanted so its what we did. Honestly, it turned out to be a pretty cute theme.
I didn't really want to go traditional cowgirl with red bandana print so I went floral instead. It all started with this free banner I found on pinterest (but of course.) I printed it along with the invitations and other decorations at office max for a very minimal price. I added doilies and some tissue paper tassels (there are all kind of tutorials for that.)

here's a screen shot of the invitation, you can find my free PDF here

See the tassels, cute for a "western" theme, right?

Then I came across some free printable wreaths and knew they were perfect for menu cards. Ok so honestly I caught a little flak over the actual need for my menu cards but I love the western names so I'm ok with that. we had

Cowboy Caviar

On the "Ranch" dip

Frontier fruit salad

Lil' Doggies (hot dogs we served for lunch)

Chow time chips

Queso

And an adult favorite "John Wayne Juice" which was a spiked Arnold Palmer

Party favors were very easy, my kids loved helping make them, and  the guests loved them. In sticking with the theme we created "happy trails mix," isn't pinterest the best? I just filled the bags taped over the top and punched a hole through the bag and the "happy trails mix" topper then tied it all together with twine.  We used multi grain cheerios, 1 bag unsalted pretzels, 1bag craisins, 1 bag M&Ms, and pre-made popcorn. It was way too much to fill the 20 favor bags so I just put the bowl out at the party and the kids ate it by the handful.

I made this welcome sign and stuck it to the front door. The door ended up just being left open (the perks of a February birthday in Houston, but it was still cute

Mostly everything was a printable from pinterest but I did buy a couple extra paper decorations and found the floral table cloth (Party City) that was a near perfect match to the floral on all the decorations.

I also like to put out pictures of the birthday girl so people who may not have known her all her life can see how she's grown.  The baby with the cowboy hat seemed very appropriate. 

Im not much on spending a lot on fancy cakes so lavender cupcakes and a glittery #7 worked perfectly.

I like to make sure to get a picture of each kid either posed or in action and include it in the envelope with the thank you notes. I think its a fun touch and its nice for the kids to have pictures with their friends. Here's this years Thank you note, the actual one had a picture Emma Bean in her cowgirl outfit instead of the bounce house.

You can download it free here 

And that's a wrap guys. The kids had a blast and it took my kids 2 days to sleep off the birthday party. I can honestly say I get the perks to having a party at a venue but doing it home every year turns out wonderfully, we can invite as many people as we want and I love when my house is full of friends, family, and laughter. 

Lastly, Happy Birthday Emma! 

Craft Room Renovation

Earlier this summer the kids went to "summer camp" at Mimi's house. That bought me just over a week of free time and true to myself I picked a project to tackle. This time it was the craft room, well and Emma's room but that's a different post. Feel free to skip to the bottom and see the transformation
From the moment we bought the house I knew this tiny room, or extra large closet was destine to be my awesome craft room. I've been using it since we moved in and painted the original dingy walls with a couple (yes a couple) of free sample paints I had laying around.  It was fun but not really as functional as I originally envisioned.
So here it is with the door removed, a hideous but working fan we found in the attic (there is no air vent since it is technically a closet, the fan was a must,) and my sample paints. This is pretty much how I'd been using it.
So keep in mind (standing looking into the room) it is about 7.5 feet deep and 4.5 feet wide, angles of pictures are a bit awkward and the pics are pretty bad

This is how it looked, looking in from the hall. There was a bunch of clutter on that back wall but I had already started clearing when I thought about taking pictures. 

This is the desk that was there. It was counter height and about 12 inches deep. Impossible to use for sewing so I da to drag my sewing machine upstairs or to the kitchen table when I wanted to use it. Kind of defeats the purpose of having a craft room.

There was a light already mounted over the desk, behind the panel with the "R" hanging on it. Someone was obviously using this as some sort of craft room or office before too. Obviously at this point it was more of a glorified storage closet. 

So I started with the desk carefully taking it apart. I knew I needed to save as much as possible to reuse. like always I try to keep my budget small.

Once that was done I had to patch the wall and paint, which I found at Lowe's as a $5 mis-tint. Score! I always, always check Lowe's mis-tints. Every time I go in and sometimes I just go to check. It there is ever a color I think I may use at some point I grab it. Its so worth it. The white color was also a mis-tint enamel.  Next I painted and installed pegboard (tip: pegboard cannot be mounted directly to the wall if you plan to use hooks on it, don't ask me how I found that out) and the new desk on the back wall. The desk was two pieces of wood from Lowe's that I stained and and sealed (I think they were $12 ea). The brace underneath was "reclaimed" from the previous desk and the white panel on top used to be the pink panel on top of the old desk. 

The wonderful pegboard idea came from Traci over at Beneath My Heart, go check her beautiful make over out!  

I used this pegboard organizer kit to help get things moving, about $9

I love this thing, its so handy. 

I also mounted this thread holder on the wall so I can see what I have easily.

I used scrap wood and L brackets to make these little paint shelves and utilize that narrow wall next to the doorway. (Those are Eli's sweet little feet there)

To the other side of the door I scored these two baskets for only $6 each at Garden Ridge. Perfect as a paper drop for mail and school work) 

I bought a couple of jars to hang underneath the shelf they hold all kinds of things, buttons, beads, wall anchors... 

I used more sale baskets to hide some of my other things...

A long, long time ago, my granddad made each of the grand kids a giant bulletin board. It was huge and perfect for this wall. 

So here it is. Pretty basic but the desk is not 24" deep and the right height for sewing. And I really love the room. 

For those of you that skipped to the end (as always here are the before and after shots) 

Left wall 

Back wall

Right wall 

Before

After

So what do you think? It's been about a month since I've done it and I really love it.

A Backyard Hangout

Doesn't this time of year just make you want to spend every moment outside? It does for me and now that we finally have our lives back from the wicked allergies this year threw at us, I intend to get some fresh are and sunshine.
Last winter we got rid of our kid's Little Tikes house in favor of my new garden.  They'd just outgrown it even though they still liked playing in it. But my garden really is cool and I'm obsessed with it and composting.

After pinteresting tons of ideas...
like the pallet playhouse

this is not my child so I felt she should remain anonymous 

or this great treeless tree house

I could just see a cracked skull from falling of the top or swinging into the house

I decided that maybe I needed something simpler, maybe less permanent and lets be honest, cheaper.

So I turned to Ana White and found the $20 tent. It literally took  $4 worth of screws, I already had enough 2x2x8 boards and a couple of old sheets. Score! 

I worked on it for about 3 hours this morning and here is what I came up with 

The tent "door" can be open 

or closed for a little more shade

you can see it closed a little better from this angle.

I gave it a few touches like a solar lantern, every camp needs a lantern right?

And pinwheels from their Easter baskets, which have had aprx. 10 homes since Easter. 

It really is a hit, he is one happy "camper!"

Ok for my mods off Ana White's plan...

I used 8ft pieces of lumber, its what I had and I wanted as few cuts as possible. You should just stick to her plan, those 2x2's were a beast to work with. 

As for the fabric, I used a king sheet and a twin sheet.  I sewed them together end to end and made the corners line up in the back. Does that make sense? 

then I just draped them over the top along my stitch and tucked them in at the bottom and around the sides. The king sheet allowed for a bit of a door.  I didn't want to attach it because I wanted it to be super easy to take off and on so that I didn't kill the grass leaving it covered all summer. 

Also I plan on using at as a greenhouse over my garden this winter and just wrapping it in plastic. We have a small yard, multi-functional is a plus.

Insert greenhouse tent over top and the perfect place for my hanging baskets to weather the winter. 

Ok so thats it, it really is simple guys. Make one and feel free to ask if you have any questions. 

Teacher Gifts

This year I've been debating on teacher gifts. I hate to give them something they probably have already received a thousand times, I don't know enough about them to pick something personal, and they can probably decorate their entire tree in gifted ornaments alone. Plus, its Christmas and like everyone else, I have a budget.
Finally, I came across this cute idea on Pinterest to give giftwrap (maybe my blog should be called Pinterest adventures.) At first I saw it and thought, thats pretty lame but I followed the link to to a blog called It's Always Craft Time and read more.  So the giftwrap comes with tape and a little card (you can print a couple cute ones free from Always Craft Time) that reads...

Since November you've been shopping,

Barely sleeping, hardly stopping. 

Now its late, you're in a scrape, out of paper or out of tape.

Hope this wrap saves the day! 

Merry Christmas

)

Since our printer is not a color printer I had to make my own card. While I was at Hobby Lobby getting the gift wrap I picked up two coordinating Christmas scrapbook pages then a matching transparent one to each. I bought the smaller size paper, it went through the printer no problem and I was able to make two cards per sheet. 

I just printed the saying on the transparent paper and layered it over the decorative one. I punched two holes in each so it would lay nicer once it was all tied together. 

All and all not bad for a cute, useful, budget friendly teacher gift. The kids even got to have a hand in it because they picked out the paper. Hey, if the teachers don't like it they can always re-gift it and at least its not another ornament with an apple on it.

Happy gifting!

Scarecrow fit for a Parade

I've just about had it up to my eyeballs with the October festivities going on at Emma's school. I LOVE crafting but each day they bring home something else that has to be done, made, or worn.
Today, they go to the library and pick out a book for a book character pumpkin contest. Each child (and family) makes a pumpkin from a book (from the library -so parents wont have much say in this) and brings it to display next week. In the meantime, this Friday is a scarecrow parade. I knew I needed to make a costume for it but it also needed to be something comfortable enough Emma would wear it all day. Scratchy straw poking out of her sleeves and pant legs wasn't going to cut it.
Before we get too far I have to warn you, this may be more of an idea than a tutorial. It involves some sewing and my knowledge of sewing is far too minimal to try to walk you through it. But if you already know how or you are willing to search some you tube videos, you will be just fine.
I found this picture on pinterest and decided to go for something similar. I mean these are pretty adorable.

My first stop was the thrift store. I was sure I could find overalls there and could work it out from that. No luck. I snagged a cute top and pair of cheap "jeggings" just in case (Emma refuses to wear jeans) and went to one ore thrift store. I still did not have luck so I decided it was time for a new plan, the jeggings were it.

So equipped with 

-1 pair of jeggings, use jeans if you can, its easier to sew

-1 tee shirt

-1 yard of Halloween fabric (probably only need a half but I didn't trust myself not to make a mistake)

-1 package of Velcro (at least 24") - I got the iron on kind.

-1 package of raffia

- wonder under 

- ribbon

-coordinating scrap fabric

- glue gun, sewing machine, and thread

I decided in order to make this work for an all day outfit, the straw was going to have to be removable. Enter velcro. First I cut lengths of velcro to fit the front and back of each pant leg. I ironed the soft side to the pant and glued the raffia to the plastic-y side. Voila, removable straw. 

Next I decided just how long I was going to make the ruffle to hide the velcro. I love those ruffle-y pant legs, so the bigger the better in my opinion.  My ruffle was about 8". 

This is where the sewing machine is required. However, if you are using overalls or non-stretchy denim, you may be able to get away hot gluing the whole thing together. I attempted this first but ended up taking it apart and starting from scratch. 

I left the width of the fabric how it came on the bolt. I hemmed the bottom and each edge to keep from fraying. Then I used the machine to sew a lose stitch and hand pulled the ruffle. 

In order to attach it to the jeggings I had to cut up the inseam of the pant to the just below the height of the ruffle. Once the ruffle is attached sew the inseam back together. You can embellish with ribbon. 

I did the same thing on the shirt sleeves except I cut the sleeve completely off instead of sewing it back together. I wasn't planning on putting any "straw" in the sleeves otherwise I would have done it the way I did the pants (so it wouldn't be itchy.)

I used the remainder of my fabric and some of the scraps to attach patches to the pants and shirt sleeve. I just attached them with the wonder under and didn't sew around them. I figured if they frayed it would be fine for a scarecrow look. We already had some Halloween hair clips that match just fine (thats whats pictured on the shirt below, its kind of hard to see) so I'm not making any but you totally could and add raffia to those too. In my opinion she'll be a pretty cute scarecrow and once the straw is taken off its still a great Halloween outfit. 

Snapped this on my phone when she tried it on...yep, pretty cute!