christmas teacher gift

there is a really cute printable out there in blog land from eighteen 25 via skip to my lou.

i photoshopped it a bit to make a christmas version for the sweet teachers who take care of my kids each week.

"wishing you a latte joy this christmas."
i did mine a little different than the original: printed 5x7's at walmart (1 hour photo) & hot glued the coffee sleeve to the print. i didn't have any twine but that would be a super cute addition!

here is my christmas version for you!

chalkboard pantry menu

there are some cute chalkboard menus all over pinterest.

 

 

i love the idea but don't have the wall/counter space in my kitchen. however, i have 2 pantry doors that were perfect for the job.

since these are raised panels, i didn't tape or anything... just went at it with a few coats of chalkboard paint!

a few scrapbook stickers to add some cuteness & frame out the days of the week...

the kids each have their own panel & have had so much fun drawing on the doors.

puppy party- kate is 2!

i feel really bad. here i am planning kate's 3rd birthday and i haven't even posted about her puppy parties from a year ago! last year we did two small parties... one with friends here in kc and then one a couple weeks after her birthday with family while we were home for thanksgiving.

for her friend party, i did a quick & simple evite & asked guests to bring a donation for the local pet shelter in lieu of gifts. we had just moved into our house 2 weeks prior so it was really an excuse to have a little playdate, show our friends our new place & celebrate kate at the same time :)

i did  a little bit of decorating...

we had a great time!

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for kate's family party i sent out invitations the old fashioned way. i picked up some plain turquoise notecards, printed them with brown ink & added a couple of embellishments (dog-theme brads from the scrapbooking section of joanns- took off the brad part & hot glued the flat embellishment on the invite).

kate with her gran & cousin lydia

party favors were puppy stickers, a bouncy ball, puppy chow & a handmade t-shirt (inspiration here)

favors for the big dogs.

kate with her great grandma :)

i used an unfrosted chocolate cake for the ears, the top of a cupcake for the muzzle & a flattened starburst candy for the tongue.

the funny thing about all this partying was that kate actually doesn't want anything to do with real dogs or puppies but she can't get enough of stuffed puppy dogs or books, pictures & movies of them :) for more puppy party ideas (some that i used and some i didn't) check out my party board on pinterest.

mario kart wii birthday party

little man is 5 years old now and waaaaay into the wii :) and especially mario kart. i used bits and pieces of other mario kart parties on the web & came up with this party for owen:

backdrop inspiration

cupcake toppers from amazon

cake inspiration

reversible mario/luigi hats

princess crowns for the little ladies

chain chomp pinata

they filled their wiimote boxes with pinata candy

favors were

cardstock wiimotes {we used hot glue to make them 

& left the top open so they could store their pinata candy inside}

homemade mario coloring book

winners medal {dollar tree}

mario kart colored pencils {party city}

super mario fruit snacks {target}

game over sign inspiration

hApPy 5tH BiRtHdAy, oWeN!

end of year teacher gifts

the last day of "school" (mom's day out) for us is this friday. between my two kids there are 5 teachers plus a school director to give gifts to. this cheesecake in a jar seems like the perfect solution. i'll use the ready to eat cheesecake filling to make it extra easy.

thinking i'll put a little tag on the jar lid that says "thanks for a 'sweet' year". and a little wooden spoon attached with twine. what are you doing for teacher gifts this year?

ribbon easter egg

this cute little craft is from el hada de papel via the crafty crow. i only had pink, white & green yarn around and since the boy is strongly opposed to being near/using/touching/looking at anything pink i didn't think green & white would make for a very fun easter egg. so the kids chose some ribbon from my enormous stash and made these cute little keepsakes. 

it's a little blurry, but they were very proud :)

so it's been awhile...

my first blog post of 2011.. lol. life got busy & i've not been inspired. but i'm back!
and here's some of what we've been up to around here:

kate's new room went from this:

to this:

owen's room before:

and after:

{he makes his own bed these days & i did not perfect his work for picture sake. 

i thought it was a cute testament to true life with this 4 1/2 year old...}

guest room then:

and now:

{i made the roman shade with fabric, glue & mini blinds! tutorial here.}

i'll have a few more rooms to show you soon. but for now i'm going for 2 in a row with a fun Easter craft to show you tomorrow!